Guess who has another snow day? That's right. o/
I'm so envious that right now Japan is beginning to have blossoming sakura trees while I'm over here having snow/sleet.
Once again, I've been able to incorporate a real FT town into the fanfic. I get all the town's information by the wiki, so if you want to know more about it, search for it!
I really cannot believe that there's already 600 reviews in 13 chapters. And 400 followers? It makes me feel so loved. (இ﹏இ`｡)
I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! And what did you guys think about the new FT chapter? C:
Thanks so much for reading. ~
"Hey, Luce! Come with me!" Natsu snatched Lucy's hand and tugged her across the field with him.
"N-Natsu?" Lucy stuttered, pleasantly surprised at how warm his palm felt that her fingers pressed against.
Lucy and Natsu skipped through the golden meadow with a shining cerulean sky above them. They raced against the clouds, but the pale fluffs were no match for them.
"Natsu, let's stop running already!" Lucy pleaded breathlessly.
Natsu paid no attention to her as they hiked up a hill that seemed to have appeared of thin air.
"There we go," he sighed with content, falling back into the soft grass.
Lucy mimicked his movements, the ground feeling comfortable like her bed.
The sky was too radiant for her to look at, so she decided to tilt her head to Natsu.
"What?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Have your eyes always looked like that?" she wondered aloud, leaning towards him with curiosity.
"You're imagining things, Luce," he chuckled while shaking his head.
The sentence created a spark in Lucy's mind. Was she imagining things?
She squirmed as the grass beneath her began to tickle a lot more than usual. It was unbearable in seconds and when she couldn't take it anymore, her eyes shot open.
"Natsu, what are you doing?!" Lucy shouted, swiftly rising out of her bed.
She was back in her room; the meadows were nothing but a dream now.
"Good morning," Natsu grinned, wiggling Happy's tail across her exposed feet as he spoke.
"That tickles!" she exclaimed. This was not the way she liked to be woken up, but she couldn't speak anymore due to her laughter.
"N-No more!" she laughed out, taking her pillow and flinging it towards him.
She took his slightly startled pause as her chance to take her other pillow and shoo him out.
"Get out, get out!" she pushed him out of her room with her pillow.
With a huff, she shut her door and pressed her back against it, catching up with her breaths.
"I'm so going to get him back," she muttered.
Since she was wide awake now, she jumped into her school uniform and exited her room. She was on her way to the bathroom when there was a poke in the middle of her back.
"What now?" she whined at Natsu, rotating towards him.
She wasn't able to finish the turn because her face was met with a pillow.
"Here you go," he handed her the pillow.
"You're not getting breakfast," she declared with a muffled voice.
"Then you don't get to use the bathroom," he countered, pulling back the pillow to reveal a sly smile.
He trotted towards the bathroom and stood in front of the door with his arms crossed like a security guard.
Lucy frowned, feeling conflicted once again.
"Fine," she groaned, rubbing her temples.
With a satisfied smile, he stepped out of the way.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked while she brushed her teeth in the bathroom.
Lucy's brush froze in her mouth. It was incredibly strange for her to feel her heart beat faster than usual because of a simple question.
"Never better," she replied plainly, washing her mouth out.
Taking their lunch bags after breakfast, the couple left their apartment. Although it had only been a day since they walked together, Lucy felt as if it had been years.
"Summer is going to be coming soon," Lucy stated.
"Summer isn't until two months," Natsu scoffed.
"One and a half," she corrected.
"Same thing," he shrugged.
The blonde held back a smile, continuing to stroll to school with him.
"You're here!" Levy rocketed out of her seat to give Lucy a hug when she entered the classroom.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Lucy questioned, returning her best friend's hug.
"You looked so sick yesterday!" she reminded.
"I'm fine now," Lucy assured, sitting down in her seat.
Taking a glance at the board, her eyes lit up. "We're going on a field trip?"
"We don't know all the details yet," Levy informed.
"We're also going on a field trip later this year," Cana answered.
"The one where we stay over there for two nights, right?" Gray inquired as he entered the classroom.
"That's going to be so much fun!" Lisanna spoke.
"D-Don't you think it'll be fun, Gajeel?" Lucy stuttered in an attempt to bring him into the conversation.
"What?" he twisted around in his seat. "What did you say to me?"
Lucy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. How could anyonespeak to him when those terrorizing crimson eyes seemed to send lasers out to everyone?
"The field trip that we spend two nights and three days," Levy explained effortlessly. "Does that sound like fun?"
"Did you bring my lunch today?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.
"Answer my question before you ask other questions!" she commanded with furrowed eyebrows.
"Whatever," he mumbled as he turned back around and went back to sleep.
"You need to loosen up, Gajeel," Natsu advised. "You're too tense."
With that, he leaned over his seat and placed his hands on Gajeel's shoulders.
"I wouldn't!" Levy blurted out, but it was too late.
The group had no idea what was happening while Gajeel and Natsu fought against each other; it was all a blur.
"Not bad," Gajeel commended with his face inches away from Natsu's.
Natsu was about to reply, but two hands forced them apart.
"No fighting in the classroom," Erza growled with menacing eyes.
"Yes, Erza!" Natsu yelped, sitting upright in his seat.
"Can we arm wrestle?" Gajeel immediately requested.
"No," she answered with smooth strides to the front of the classroom.
Not one person in the classroom was aware that the bell had rung several minutes ago until the homeroom teacher cleared his throat.
"Good morning, everyone," he waved.
With only few responses, he stepped aside to present the writing on the board.
"Tomorrow we will be going on a field trip to Onibus Town."
Though there wasn't much of a reaction from the class, Erza's head perk up in the crowd.
"While we're there, we will be going to see a play at the Onibus Theater. After that, we'll allow you to explore Onibus for the rest of the day."
"Are we going to have to ride a train there?" Natsu raised his hand.
"Unless you want to walk," the teacher laughed slightly at their joke.
Natsu dropped his head on his desk instead of joining in on his laughter.
"Is he okay?" Lucy asked the giggling Lisanna.
"He has motion sickness," she whispered.
Lucy's eyes widened. Out of all the things Natsu could have, he had motion sickness?
"I don't want to hear it," he told Lucy as soon as she was about to say something.
"Fine," she smiled with amusement.
"Everyone, please divide into groups of six," the teacher instructed.
The group exchanged a brief glance of one another, Jellal and Erza twisting in their seats to look back.
"There's eight of us," Cana noted.
"Nine," Levy corrected, pointing to Gajeel.
"So there'll be six and three left over," Natsu stated.
"I'm glad you know how math works," Gajeel quipped.
"We don't mind stepping out," Jellal spoke, referring to him and Erza.
"I guess I don't mind either," Cana shrugged.
"Are you sure?" Lucy double-checked.
"We'll be together on the next field trip," Cana remarked.
"Of course!" Levy nodded.
"So it's settled," Gray said, glancing at everyone to count them.
"I never said I wanted to join your weird group," Gajeel scowled, standing up from his seat.
"Well, it's too late now!" Natsu grinned as he threw his arm around his Gajeel's shoulders.
"Get off of me," Gajeel grunted.
Lucy watched with entertainment as Gajeel tried his best to worm his way out of Natsu's hold.
"I see a friendship blossoming," Lisanna stated with a soft laugh.
The group nodded in agreement, directing their attention back to the teacher.
After zoning out for some time, it was finally time for lunch. The anticipation for the field trip was surrounding the entire room, and this was this chance to talk about it.
But before the girls could speak about the trip, they watched Gajeel and Levy.
"What'd you make me?" he inquired, opening the container.
"I-I think I overcooked it," she stuttered, not having the courage to look at him eat it.
It was obvious to everyone the food was overcooked, it seemed as if it was harder than metal.
However, Gajeel didn't hesitate to dig into the solid food. The moment he swallowed, a toothy grin appeared.
"This is great!" he spoke while stuffing his mouth.
"Is it?!" she breathed out in relief.
Gajeel nodded, getting up and walking towards the door. "I'll be back."
"Where are you going?" Levy asked dumbfounded.
"To get something to drink," he answered, taking the container with him as he left.
"Good for you, Levy-chan!" Lucy smiled. "He liked your food!"
"I'm so relieved," she sighed with flushed cheeks.
At last, she scooted her desk with everyone else and began to eat her lunch.
"So, the field trip tomorrow," Lucy brought up.
"The plays in Onibus are amazing!" Erza proclaimed with delight.
"You've been to Onibus before?" Lisanna questioned.
"I was able to act during one of the plays once," Erza boasted, reminiscing in her own mind.
"It sounds like fun!" Levy said.
"I'm just happy to be getting out of school," Cana admitted bluntly.
Lucy couldn't help but agree. As much as she loved talking to her friends like this, school was incredibly boring before and after lunch.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a certain dark-haired boy quietly eating his lunch.
"I'll be back," Lucy told her friends, pushing her chair back to go towards Gray.
"Hey, Gray," she greeted as she took a seat beside his desk.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks," she replied. "Why aren't you eating with Natsu and Jellal?"
"I'm not in the mood to sit with them," he mumbled.
"Why not?" she tilted her head.
"It's none of your business," he narrowed his eyes at her.
Lucy's eyes widened at his sudden coldness.
"I didn't mean it like that," he immediately apologized. "It's just—"
"It's okay," she guaranteed with a wave of her hand. "You're right, anyway. Are you going to come over and supervise Natsu and I today?"
"I'm going to skip this week," he responded plainly.
Lucy's eye twitched at how stubborn Gray was being, but she didn't say anything.
"Well, let me know if you change your mind," she said while returning to her seat.
"Yeah, sure," he shrugged.
Shoving Gray to the back of her mind, she resumed speaking with her friends about the field trip tomorrow.
The field trip was the only thing on everyone's minds for the rest of the day.
"I'm going to go home and get ready for the field trip," Levy spoke excitedly when school ended.
"There's nothing to get ready for," Cana stifled a laugh.
"Get ready to see how fantastic the plays are," Erza beamed.
Talking about the field trip just a bit more, eventually, everyone started making their way home.
"Are you excited to ride the train tomorrow?" Lucy grinned to Natsu once they were alone.
"Don't," Natsu groaned.
"What if we have to ride a bullet train?" she pushed his buttons.
"I'm not going to Onibus if we have to ride one," he shook his head.
Lucy began to cough, adding, "Wimp," in the midst of her fake coughing.
"Shut up," he pushed her with his shoulder. "I'll put hot sauce on your toothbrush."
Lucy giggled at his threats; it only made her want to make fun of him more.
His face while he was being teased was awfully cute. It seemed as if everything Natsu did was cute to Lucy.
"Why didn't you and Gray talk today, by the way?" she mentioned to keep her distracting thoughts away.
"No reason," Natsu responded smoothly when they entered their apartment.
"But you're best friends. Aren't you supposed to—"
"I'm going to take a shower," he interrupted her, closing the bathroom door behind him.
Lucy gaped at the closed door.
"Rude," she muttered.
Though he was more suspicious than rude. It wasn't normal for two best friends to randomly stop speaking to each other.
Lucy was going to get to the bottom of this. Natsu and Gray ignoring each other created a pit inside her stomach.
As she patiently waited for the field trip to arrive, she brainstormed various plans on how to get the two single-minded boys continue to talk again.
It was going to be difficult, but she would do whatever it took.
Lucy could think about her feelings another day. If anything, she needed more time to think of what to do with them.
The field trip tomorrow to Onibus Town was definitely going to be an intriguing one.