Hello again~!

Thank you all so, so much for the reviews! I think I hit a record high on review count with only one chapter when it comes to Fairy Tail stories :) It makes me happy, especially since life has been depressing...

Before I begin, just so you all know, I won't be on Fanfiction really at all until Sunday...maybe even Monday. I'm going on a trip with my school's Symphonic Band... If I do get on Fanfiction on Sunday, I will be so fricking exhausted that I probably won't even be able to form coherent sentences (we're going to be in a bus allll night). Just a warning XD

I hope you all enjoy this first chapter!

Chapter One

70 Days Before the Truth

I sigh to myself as I wiggle my toes in the cool sand. "Ahh, everything seems so much better now that you're here, Levy."

Levy giggles, pushing her sunglasses up on his head. "Aww, thanks Lu-chan. It's great being around you too." She turns her head slightly to look at me. "Do you want to go in the water? I heard it's at a record warmth today."

"Sure!" I reply with a smile. Levy kicks off her flip-flops, watching as they soar into the air. I climb to my feet and brush the sand off my pink swimsuit. "Ready?" I ask Levy. She nods in response, a very expectant look on her face. "Set?" We lock eyes, ready for the competition. "GO!" I shout. We take off, white sand flying off behind us. Levy is much smaller than me, and faster, so she wins easily. But I don't mind, as I get payback by splashing her with water. She laughs and splashes me back. We start a splash war between us, splashing each other back and forth. We tire ourselves out pretty fast, then return to the shore.

"So," Levy says, sipping some lemonade. "You said you made a new friend? What's she like?"

"He," I correct her. Levy's eyes widen.

"He?" she squeals. "Oh, Lu-chan! That's wonderful! Finally, you've got a boyfriend!"

"I-It's not like that!" I stammer. "He's just a friend!"

Levy giggles. "I'm just teasing you, I don't think you're quite there yet. How long have you known him now? Three weeks?"

"23 days," I reply instantly. Levy raises an eyebrow, and I turn away, embarrassed.

"Not that you're counting or anything," Levy teases.

"It's a new thing for me," I reply with a small smile. "You're my only other true friend. And it's an even bigger deal that he's a boy."

"What's he like?" Levy asks. "Funny? Serious? Sarcastic? Short? Tall? Hot? Ugly? Cute? Nerdy?"

I shake my head while smiling. Levy is so silly to come up with all of those questions. "Well, he's definitely a weirdo."

"In a good way?" Levy presses on, leaning slightly forward.

"Yes," I nod. "He's a bit taller than me, and I guess you could call him cute." Levy squeaks. "He loves food and sports, especially soccer. He has a fondness for cats. He doesn't like reading that much, but he loves movies and video games." Levy looks a tiny bit disappointed, but doesn't interrupt. "He's really funny, and always knows how to cheer me up when I'm down. He can be kind of an idiot sometimes, but he makes up for it. It's funny, because he can be sweet and sincere without meaning to be."

"Oh, Lu-chan," sighs Levy. "He sounds amazing..."

"Speaking of boys," I wink at her, "how's Gajeel?" Levy blushes at the mention of her boyfriend, looking slightly timid.

"Good," she replies. "He's being as stubborn as ever, of course, but that's just him."

"I want to meet him," I laugh, elbowing my friend's shoulder gently.

"I guess I can show you a picture of him..." Levy mumbles. "But you have to promise not to judge..."

I raise an eyebrow. "Okay, fine..."

Levy sighs, and reaches for her bag sitting in the sand. She rummages through it, pushing books to the side as she searches for her phone. She pulls the beautiful touch-screen smartphone out of the pocket it was in, and unlocks it with a flash. She clicks on her photos, scrolls through a few, then passes it to me. My eyes bug out of my head. He has thick black hair that falls down his back, red eyes, and round metal piercings all over his face. "L-Levy!" I cry. I turn to her, forcing a mischievous grin onto my face. "I never knew you were into bad boys~"

"S-Shut up, Lu-chan!" she stammers, blushing a darker shade of pink. "He can be really sweet when he wants to be!"

I laugh, "Only teasing!" It feels so good to finally cast off my lady manners. Sure, they still linger, but around Levy, I can get myself back into teenage girl mode extremely quickly.

"Yo! Lucy!" a voice familiar voice shouts. I glance over my left shoulder to find the speaker, and my eyes land on no other than Natsu Dragneel.

"Natsu!" I reply with a smile, standing up. "How've you been?"

He beams, "Great! Pervert came to stay for a few days, so I've got him with me."

"Pervert?" I frown, just as Levy gasps and says, "Natsu?"

"Levy!" he grins. "Hey there!"

"You know each other?!" I gawk at the two of them, surprised to see their joyful expressions.

"Duh," Natsu says matter-of-factly. "We go to the same school, and Levy's boyfriend is Metal Head."

"I can't believe that Natsu is your new friend, Lu-chan!" Levy squeals. "This is great!"

"Hey, Flame Ass, who are you talking too?" an unfamiliar black-haired teen says, coming up from behind Natsu.

Natsu sticks his tongue out at him. "Hold on a second, Ice Queen. Don't get your panties in a knot." I hold back a giggle as Levy smiles and shakes her head knowingly.

"Oh, hey Levy," the teen says.

"Hi, Gray," Levy replies. She turns to me. "Lucy, Gray. Gray, Lucy."

"Nice to meet you," Gray says to me. He thumbs over his shoulder at Natsu. "So sorry you have to put up with this dork."

"Hey!" Natsu shouts. "You're actin' like it's some sort of punishment!"

"It's not that bad hanging out with him, honestly," I admit.

"Wow, that's a first," Gray snickers.

Natsu gets right in his face. "You wanna fight, Stripper?"

"Hell yeah!" Gray replies. "Throw down, right here, right now! You and me!"

"Are they going to fight?" I whisper to Levy, suddenly feeling nervous.

"You'll see," Levy replies with a smile.

"Your face is an ice cube!" Natsu sasses.

"Oh yeah?!" Gray retorts. "Your face makes me puke!"

"Whaaat?" My mouth is wide open.

Levy laughs. "They barely ever actually fight. The few times they tried Erza stopped them. They normally stick to 'Yo Momma', 'Your Face', or rap battles."

I choke on my lemonade. "Rap battles?!"

"Okay, that only happened once," Levy laughs. "But it was still funny!"

"One more question," I say to Levy. "Why do they call each other 'ice' and 'flame'?"

"Gray can be cold and harsh, so that's where they get ice from," Levy explains. "As for Natsu..." Levy looks a bit hesitant. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but he used to be a bit of a pyromaniac in 5th and 6th grade."

Shaking, my eyes widen. "Wh-What?! Why?"

"He never burned anything big, just like toilet paper and old homework," Levy says softly. "As for why, he'll have to tell you himself. It's a hard subject for him, and even I don't know." I nod slowly, still feeling nervous. "Don't worry, Lucy, as far as I know, he stopped years ago."

"Somethin' wrong?" Natsu asks, approaching us.

"No," I reply softly, not looking at him. "Nothing's wrong..." I feel a hand touch my chin and gently lift my face upwards. A frown is deeply etched onto Natsu's face as he studies my expression.

"Something wrong?" he repeats, this time a bit softer.

"We can talk later," I reply, turning away from him.

"Okay..." His voice is surprisingly gentle. "Maybe you could come to my place for dinner? I'm sure Wendy and my step-mom would love to meet you. Oh! And Happy wants to meet you too!"

I smile slightly, still not looking at him. "That sounds great..."

"Anyone have a pen?" Natsu asks. Levy passes him one from her bag easily. Natsu approaches me, then takes my hand just like our first meeting. In very shaky handwriting, he writes his address on the back of my left hand. "There. Show up anytime between 4:30 and 5. My step-mom won't mind."

"Okay," I whisper, gazing at the blue ink on my hand.

"Natsu, where are you staying right now, since you live in Magnolia?" Levy asks curiously.

"Oh, we're renting a place," Natsu replies. "My step-mom's friend Zirconis takes long summer trips to casinos and the like, so he let us rent his place this summer." he turns to look at me again. "That's why my room is going to look so weird: it's normally a guest bedroom. It doesn't have any of my cool dragon posters or anything. Just lame, boring old shit."

"Natsu, I have to go," Gray says. "My stupid dad is expecting me back at the hotel in fifteen minutes. You comin' or not?"

"Coming," Natsu grumbles as Gray takes off, kicking sand up behind him. "See you later, Levy, Lucy!" He grins at me, then runs off after Gray shouting, "Slow down you Icy Prick!"

"You speed up, you Fiery Dumbass!"

Levy laughs. "Those boys are the embodiment of chaos." She slides on her orange flip flops, then packs up her things. "It's almost 3:40 already, Lu-chan. I've got to get going or I'm going to miss my community service thing."

"Good luck," I reply, sliding on my baby blue flip-flops. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yep!" she chirps. "I'll meet you at the boardwalk bookstore at 10. We can buy a book, then go read in the café!"

"Sounds like a plan!" I smile back. "Bye Levy!"

"See you, Lu-chan!" I watch her walk away with a spring in her step, her bag swinging in the crook of her arm. She is in such a good mood... She must enjoy cleaning the library an awful lot.

I sigh, gazing out at the ocean. The waves lap the shore so peacefully, creating a wonderful, soothing rhythm. As I gaze out at the waves, I can't help but to think of Natsu. Why was he a pyro? What happened that would make him do something like that? I sigh. I wonder if he's lonely... It's a possibly, though I doubt it. I mean, he has a sister and tons of friends, from what I've gathered. Though you never know what could do something like that to a person... I'm glad I'm going to get to talk to him, it will be a good time for me to ask him about this. I've decided already not to tell him that Levy told me about it. He doesn't need to know where I got the information. I gaze out into the horizon, then take a deep breath. It's time to go home real fast and get ready to go to Natsu's.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a long evening.

And there's Chapter 1! We got a little sneak peek into one of Natsu's secrets, and I hope you all enjoyed the Gray & Natsu rivalry as well as the Gale hints in there. And of course, Nalu.

I have just posted a poll on my profile where you can vote for your favorite of my multi-chapter stories! Feel free to vote for this one or another one! You can choose up to 2 stories :)

Review with what you liked and any helpful tips you might have to make this story better! I love hearing from you all, and I'll definitely take what you say into account.

Also! If you have any questions, I will gladly answer them. As long as it doesn't spoil the story's plot, ask away! A few examples are: Will this ship be included? Or: Will this character be in this story? Or even: Will this story be mostly sad or mostly happy?

Thanks so much for reading! :D Next chapter Lucy will finally meet Natsu's family, so stay tuned!

~ForeverDreamer12, signing out :)