I feel like I haven't updated in forever. How are you guys?
I apologize I haven't updated since last year! (yes, I'm still making those jokes) Things have gotten hectic and busy and now that second semester has started, school is taking over my life again.
But thankfully, I'm halfway done with sophomore year. :')
Thank you for reading! It's the coolest thing ever that it's only the 5th chapter yet I already have 200 reviews. You guys are awesome, seriously.
Though the one-shot has been out for almost a week, I want to just remind you guys that I have a new story up! If you haven't read it, I'd love if you did. :]
I'll be going back to updating weekly from now on, sorry for taking a break without saying anything!
Enjoy this chapter, everyone.
Lucy had never done so much studying her life.
She studied in her room, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry room, and even in the bathtub.
When she wasn't studying, she was going over the material she had just previously studied.
And where did Natsu study? Absolutely nowhere.
"I'm jealous of you, Natsu," Lucy admitted as she chewed on the tip of her pen while she studied. She sat with her legs crossed on the part of the couch that was considered her side.
"Why?" he smirked as he continued to smash the buttons on his video game controller.
"You never study, yet you get perfect scores," she sighed, remembering how startled she was after seeing one of his crumpled up tests in the trash.
"It takes years of practice," he revealed.
"It does?" she inquired, looking down at him who was sitting down on the floor while playing his video game.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Just a guess."
"You're hopeless," she shut her textbook in her lap. She heaved herself off the couch and began to stroll to her room.
"Don't sleep too late," she advised.
"Yeah, yeah," he brushed her off.
Lucy leaped into her bed and closed her eyes, listening to the noises from the TV. She had gotten used to going to sleep with Natsu's video game sounding throughout their apartment.
She would have probably felt weird if she didn't hear it while sleeping.
"Two more days," she told her dark room.
Two more days of exams and Lucy was finally going to be finished with the school year.
"If I see one more test I think I'm going to hit someone," Levy spoke wearily as she ate her lunch.
"We only have one more test and we're finished," Erza smiled with content.
"And in two weeks we'll be in a different classroom with different people," Lucy stated.
"You made sure we'll be in the same class, right?" Cana muttered to Erza as if it was a secret.
"Of course," she guaranteed. "It's set in stone."
"That's great!" Levy cheered.
"We should do something today," Lucy suggested.
"Yeah, let's go out somewhere," Levy agreed.
"Actually," Erza cleared her throat awkwardly. "I have a friend that wants me to hang out with him today."
"Him?" Cana repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Is he cute?" Levy winked.
"He's a friend that's in student council with me," Erza explained.
"What's his name?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Jellal," Erza answered.
"I hope you have fun with Jellal," Levy wiggled her eyebrows.
"So what will us three do?" Lucy questioned to her friends.
"How about we go to that new arcade that opened a couple of months ago?" Levy submitted her idea.
"And whoever loses the most games has to buy us dinner," Cana said with competitive eyes.
"Let's go after school then," Lucy planned excitedly, being able to see unhappiness swirling inside of Erza's eyes.
"You can come with us next time," Levy assured as soon as the bell began to ring.
Immediately, each student's face in the classroom grimaced. Everyone was exhausted from the tests and would much rather sit through the boring closing ceremony after the exams.
"Good luck, guys," Levy whispered to her friends.
"You too," Erza, Cana, and Lucy whispered back.
As Lucy received her final test, she took a deep breath.
Once these 60 questions were answered, she could relax for the next two weeks without any worries.
"I wish the closing ceremonies were more entertaining," Cana yawned as the girls exited the school.
"My legs fell asleep twice," Levy admitted.
"But Erza's speech was good!" Lucy remarked to bring in some light into the situation.
"Yeah, I guess," Cana shrugged.
"Let's go to the arcade now!" Levy shouted with glee, running pass the gates.
"Does she even know where the arcade is?" Lucy sighed at her child-like friend.
"I don't even know where it is," Cana spoke.
"I thought you did!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Nope," Cana grinned. "I have no idea."
"Hopefully we find it," the blonde mumbled, feeling as if she was the mother of the group.
After grabbing a hold of Levy, the trio searched for the arcade.
"Once we hear a lot of laughing, we'll know the arcade is close," Cana claimed.
"Because that's the only way to know, right?" Lucy quipped sarcastically.
"Is that it?" Levy asked as she pointed a finger to a building.
"I hear laughing," Cana began to step towards the building. "Let's go inside."
The girls reluctantly entered the building to find arcade games spread across the entire room.
"This place is so cool," Levy said with awe as they trotted deep into the room.
The room was quite dark with the arcade games being the one of few sources of light. Soft lights dangled from the ceilings so people could watch their step.
The arcade smelled of pizza and teen spirit.
"Get ready, girls," Cana began cracking her knuckles.
"W-What are we going to play first?" Levy stuttered, sensing Cana's intimidating aura.
"How about air hockey?" Lucy suggested.
They walked towards the air hockey table and gave each other a quick glance.
"I'll play the winner," Levy volunteered. It was obvious she didn't want to be beaten by Cana first.
"Okay," Cana replied.
Lucy gulped as she stood at one end of the table. Once the coins were entered into the game, she stared at the puck that began to float.
"You can go first," Cana allowed.
With trembling hands, Lucy dragged the puck towards her and placed it in front of the crimson mallet.
"Well, here goes nothing," she mumbled.
Many groans and victories later, Lucy was proud to see the score being five to three.
"How did you do that, Lu-chan?!" Levy gasped at her victory.
"I've always been good at these types of games," Lucy showed a triumphant smile.
"You should have said that before!" Cana frowned, clearly thrown off by Lucy's hidden talent.
"I guess I forgot," Lucy responded slyly.
"Levy, go," Cana commanded as she left her spot.
"If you were my best friend you'd go easy on me, Lu-chan," Levy said nervously, the mallet looking enormous in her small hands.
"Let's see," Lucy giggled as she gently hit the puck towards Levy.
It wasn't long until Lucy had scored five points when Levy scored a grand total of zero.
"Not fair at all," Levy pouted.
"Sorry," Lucy held back another laugh.
The girls continued to roam the arcade, playing games left and right until their money was nearly nonexistent.
"Looks like Levy will be buying us dinner," Cana stated.
"Let me just buy it now to get it over with!" she declared.
"But we're not hungry yet, right, Cana?" Lucy teased.
"Guys," Levy whined.
"Fine, fine," Cana started to head towards the eating area. "Lucy and I will sit here while you go buy us something."
"We're good friends, right?" Lucy questioned after watching Levy scampering off to where all the food was being sold.
"Sometimes," Cana answered with a shrug.
It wasn't long until guilt began to spread all over Lucy. But her guilt was put on hold when her eyes landed on a certain pink-haired male that was entering the arcade.
"C-Cana!" Lucy stammered with large eyes. "What's that over there?"
She pointed to nothing in particular so they could look away. She knew if Natsu spotted her, he would do all sorts of things to embarrass her in front of her friends.
"The bathroom?" Cana inquired, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"The bathrooms are weird here!" she proclaimed. She glanced beside her to see Natsu walking away from the eating area and into the area of games.
"Are you okay?" Cana asked.
"Yeah," Lucy let out a relieved sigh, leaning back in her seat. "There's just someone here that I don't want to see."
"Oh, who?" Cana lifted an eyebrow with interest.
"His name is—"
"Guys, help me!" Levy cried as she held a box of pizza while trying to hold a cardboard box that contained cups of soda.
"You should have asked for help earlier!" Lucy said, sliding the pizza box from Levy's arms.
"Sorry," Levy muttered as she plopped into her seat with exhaustion. "Who knew pizza boxes were so heavy?"
"They're not," Cana responded. "You're just not strong enough."
"Hey," Levy took a hold of the box. "I paid for this box and I have the right to say who can eat it or not."
"Sorry," Cana apologized immediately. "I didn't mean it."
"Levy-chan can be scary sometimes," Lucy giggled.
"That's right," Levy nodded as she opened the box to reveal a delicious pepperoni pizza.
After moaning over how tasty the pizza was, the girls leaned back in their chairs with content.
"What should we do now? We don't have much money left," Cana asked.
"Let's go to Lu-chan's house for a while," Levy proposed.
"It's not clean," Lucy blurted out.
"There's only one person living in your apartment, and that's you," Cana narrowed her eyes. "How messy can you get? I'm sure it's not that bad."
"You'd be surprised," Lucy laughed nervously.
Just this morning, she had woken up to find crumbs left by Natsu all over the floor.
Happy had helped her clean it—by eating it, of course—but she didn't have time to clean it all. If Cana and Levy were to visit her apartment, they'd surely be grossed out.
Levy pursued her lips in thought then her eyes widened seconds later.
"Is that Erza?" she lifted a finger to the entrance of the arcade.
"Oh, it is," Cana said as she twisted around in her seat to check.
"Should we go to her and say hi?" Lucy inquired.
Though as soon as Lucy asked, Erza's eyes landed on the trio. With a smile, she strode to her friends.
"Hey, guys," Erza greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Levy sipped her soda while asking.
"I came here to meet some old friends and catch up," Erza responded.
"Let's meet them," Cana rose from her seat, inviting herself.
"Can we?" Lucy asked just to make sure.
Erza glanced over her shoulder then turned back to her friends.
"I guess they won't mind," she shrugged, beckoning them to follow her.
Tossing the empty pizza box in the trash, the girls trailed behind Erza through the arcade games.
With each step Lucy took, she looked everywhere for a pink head. She needed to know where Natsu was to save herself from any trouble.
"Hey, Erza, play me on this game right now!" a voice called out, instantly creating a shiver run through Lucy.
"Wait, let me introduce you guys to my friends," Erza spoke, stepping aside to reveal the girls.
Right away, Lucy's eyes connected to the boy that caused her shiver.
"Oh, Lucy," Gray smiled at the blonde. "It's great to see you again."
"You two know each other?" Erza raised a brow.
"I bumped into him in the hallway once," Lucy explained with warm cheeks at the memory.
"It was pretty romantic," Levy snickered, receiving an elbow jab by Lucy. "I'm Levy, by the way."
"Nice tattoo," Cana complimented the other boy standing beside Gray.
"Thanks," the bluenette replied. "I'm Jellal."
Since the greetings were done, Lucy turned around to scan the arcade. She felt vulnerable knowing that somewhere in this arcade was her obnoxious roommate.
"Who are you looking for?" a voice floated into her ear, causing her to jump.
"Don't scare me like that!" Lucy shouted, spinning around with a frown.
"Wait," she paused, staring at the grinning boy. "You're…"
"I'm Natsu," he replied.
"He's the one that was with Gray when you bumped into him that day," Levy reminded.
"T-That's right," Lucy stuttered. "It's nice to see you again."
"You too," he nodded with the same grin.
To the group, Lucy and Natsu were solely strangers. So they had no choice but to play the role.
"Let's go play some games, shall we?" Jellal told the group.
"Oh," Cana spoke, doing a small cough.
"We don't have money," Lucy finished for her. She could hear Natsu scoff beside her and when nobody was looking, she sent him a glare.
"I can give you some," Gray offered, digging into his pocket.
"No, that's okay!" Levy waved her hands in the air. "We'll watch."
"Well, okay," Jellal shrugged.
The group that was now a group of seven ambled throughout the arcade, stopping at several games.
"Erza is amazing," Levy said completely dumbstruck.
"She's beating everyone," Cana said with the same expression as Levy.
"Except me," Jellal smiled smugly.
"If I don't beat you in one of these games, I'll allow you to be the president of student council for a week," Erza challenged.
"Are you serious?" Jellal inquired.
Erza nodded. "Let's go find a game now."
Lucy watched with a smile as Erza and Jellal wandered off from the group in search for a game. She could feel their friendship radiating from where she was standing.
"Hey," Natsu nudged her with his elbow. "I bet I can beat you in skee ball."
"Oh, no you can't," Lucy retorted.
"Come on," he smirked as he began to walk to the skee ball machines.
"I want to play, too," Levy pouted as she watched Lucy and Natsu reach the long tables.
"Here," Gray responded, leaning down to one of the tables and inserting several coins.
Natsu mirrored his movements, inserting three coins in Lucy's machine.
"You can pay me back by paying a bit of my half of the rent," Natsu muttered.
"Fine," Lucy mumbled back, knowing she had no way of getting out of it now since her skee ball machine was already lighting up.
The baseball-sized balls began tumbling down to Lucy, waiting for her to pick them up. She held the ball while waiting for Natsu's machine to light up.
"And go!" Natsu commenced the battle, rolling his ball up the long ramp.
"Go, Lu-chan!" Levy cheered as she watched them—her skee ball game already forgotten.
Lucy couldn't believe how hard she was trying to beat Natsu until she had one ball left in the slot open for her.
She didn't dare to look at the score. It would only make her anxious.
"Don't mess up," Natsu taunted after noticing they both had one ball left.
"Thanks for the encouragement," Lucy replied with a smile as she turned back to the game.
Her eyes focused on the hole that was worth the most amount of points. With a steady breath, she rolled her ball with as much precision she could manage.
"Not bad," Natsu complimented when Lucy's ball entered the hundred point hole.
"Can you do better?" Lucy asked.
"Of course I can," he grinned, looking at the holes for several seconds.
There were no steady breaths involved as Natsu casually rolled his ball up the ramp. Lucy's jaw dropped when it landed in the hundred point hole as if that was its only home.
"The score is so close!" Levy groaned, throwing her hands in the air.
Lucy quickly looked up at their scores, her heart pounding in her chest. When she compared the scores, she pressed her lips in a tight line.
"I lost," Natsu spoke.
"I won," Lucy breathed out.
"Let's do a rematch right now!" he demanded, shoving his hand in his pocket to take out more coins.
"No way," she shook her head with a laugh. "I already won."
"But—"
"I can't believe Flame-brain lost to a girl," Gray sneered.
"By ten points, Ice Princess," Natsu retorted.
"Some people just aren't meant for winning, Natsu," Cana shrugged, clearly provoking him.
"Maybe next time you'll win," Levy chimed in.
"Whatever," he rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go eat something."
"Is he mad?" Lucy questioned as her eyes followed Natsu striding away.
"He probably already forgot about his loss," Gray assured.
Lucy stifled a laugh; she wouldn't doubt it.
"You two seem really close," he remarked.
"No way," she waved a hand to dismiss it. "There's just something about Natsu that makes me want to beat him."
"Really?" he muttered, asking more to himself.
"Lu-chan, Erza and Jellal are tied!" Levy shouted. "Come and look!"
Lucy and Gray eagerly stepped towards the game Erza and Jellal were playing. They definitely did not want to miss this.
After about 20 minutes, Erza had somehow beaten Jellal. Though nobody had witnessed it since everyone had become uninterested after just five minutes.
"The arcade is closing in ten minutes," a voice sounded throughout the arcade.
"That's our cue," Gray spoke, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning against.
"Where's Natsu?" Erza asked.
"He's probably still eating something," Lucy predicted.
And her prediction was correct. As the group strolled to the eating area, they found Natsu finishing a pizza slice.
"Have you been eating this entire time?!" Levy exclaimed.
"How long has it been?" Natsu asked.
"Half an hour," Cana answered with a frown.
Natsu simply nodded, not bothering to reply back.
"Let's go, Natsu," Lucy said.
"But I'm not done eating," he responded.
"Then just take the leftovers home," she rolled her eyes.
As the sentence left her mouth, she froze.
"I don't even want to think about how much food is stuffed into Natsu's fridge," Gray grimaced.
"Probably a lot," Levy said.
Lucy let out a soft sigh of relief when Erza directed the conversation elsewhere.
"The arcade is closing in five minutes," the same voice sounded throughout the arcade again.
"I'm getting up!" Natsu proclaimed after six glares were directed at him.
The group exited the arcade, laughing as they recalled how ridiculous Natsu looked when playing a game with Gray.
It was strange to all of them that despite everyone meeting each other just three hours ago, they were speaking as if it had been three years. But they didn't complain about it.
"See you guys in class," Erza began to wave goodbye.
"Are we all going to be in the same class?" Levy asked with large eyes.
"Somehow," Jellal answered, looking at Erza. "I didn't think she could do it, actually."
"Never underestimate the president," Erza responded with a sly smile.
"I'm going this way," Gray spoke, pointing behind him. "See you guys in class then."
"See you guys in class!" Levy repeated with a grin. It was clear she enjoyed saying it.
Once everyone had said it, the group separated. And of course, Natsu and Lucy walked in the same direction.
"So we're going to be in the same class," Lucy stated, looking at the twinkling stars above them as she spoke.
"I look forward to it," Natsu replied.
"Me too," she smiled, not taking her eyes off the dark sky. Then after a while, she looked at him.
"Why does Gray call you Flame-brain?" she inquired.
"Hot sauce," he answered plainly.
"You two are weird," she scoffed.
Their matching footsteps were the only noises on the street as they headed towards their apartment.
"Are you doing anything over the break?" he asked to stop the silence.
"I think I'm going out with my friends somewhere," she answered. "What about you?"
"Gray will probably want to come over and play some games," he revealed.
"Don't make a mess," she ordered.
"No promises," he chuckled.
He glanced over his shoulder and Lucy couldn't help but do the same.
"What were you looking at?" she questioned.
"What if someone is watching us right now?" he asked with complete seriousness.
"Don't say things like that!" she exclaimed, smacking his shoulder.
A smile spread across Natsu's face as he gained the reaction he wanted. Then when the apartment complex came into view, he took a deep breath.
"Last one home has to clean up the food I dropped on the floor last night!" he hastily spoke, already dashing towards the apartment.
Lucy's mouth fell as she felt herself chasing after him, gripping onto his shirt to keep him back.
Though both of their hard work was in vain because neither of them had to clean it up. They had surprisingly received some help while they were out.
"I guess Happy is a little helpful," Lucy muttered when they entered their apartment to find out that Happy had eaten all the crumbs.
Lucy couldn't be mad even if she wanted to be as she watched Natsu give Happy miniature high-fives on his paws.
She could feel that the next two weeks were surely going to be interesting.