Well, it's been some time since we've had a filler chapter, hasn't it? I haven't missed it, tbh.
Just a heads up, but I don't want to make this fic any longer than 30 chapters. Don't worry, though, there's still a lot of drama coming up in these next 8 chapters. ;]
The next time I update, I'm finally going to be in summer vacation. B) When do you guys get out of school?
As you guys have been told last week, my longest fic ever Secret Lovers was officially completed on Saturday. So, taking it's place, is going to be a new story named Deal With The Devil.
It's going to be a about the lovely Nalu, as always, but with a twist! Not everyone in this fanfic is going to be human in this story. However, it's still going to be a modern AU fic.
Can't stop writing modern AUs, won't stop writing modern AUs.
I hope some of you guys do decide to read it, though, because I'm really excited to publish it. :-))
Well, anyway, thank you so much for reading this story! The fact that it just hit 800 follows sdfghjkl, you guys are so great.
See you next week!
"So, you're saying that we can't stay here any longer?" Gajeel asked Mirajane for the thousandth time that morning.
"She hasn't said yes once, Gajeel," Cana rolled her eyes, biting off a large piece of her pancake.
"We'll be able to come back here next year," Lisanna guaranteed on the other side of the table.
"What about next week?" Gray requested.
"Not you, too," Cana groaned.
The table shared a laugh, although there were two people who aimlessly played with their food with their heads withdrawn.
"Lu-chan, are you okay?" Levy tilted her head curiously.
"Natsu, are you alright?" Jellal inquired.
"I'm fine," Natsu and Lucy answered simultaneously, their eyes flicking towards each other across the table. They looked away from each other half a second later.
The group sent them a skeptical look, but were distracted by the bright light and loud crackling coming from outside.
"Great," Gray said flatly.
"Of course it rains on our last day here," Erza sighed.
"I have some board games upstairs," Mirajane offered. "Should I go get them?"
The group nodded reluctantly, knowing they wouldn't have anything else to do. After finishing their breakfast, they trotted to the living room.
At first the idea of playing a simple board game didn't sound too entertaining, yet once they started dealing with taking money from one another, they were having the time of their lives.
"You landed on my property, so pay me 10,000 Jewel!" Cana declared to Jellal.
"I don't have 10,000 Jewel," Jellal's eyes widened at the mere three sheets of colorful paper he had.
"You're bankrupt, man," Elfman chuckled. "You're out of the game."
"Welcome to the club," Levy spoke as Jellal unhappily handed his money to the beaming Cana.
"I don't want to be in this club," he muttered.
The board game had a reputation for being the longest board game in history, so as the losing club slowly grew, they decided to switch over to card games.
"So the point of the game is to slap the first specific black card you see?" Lucy clarified.
"You have to have fast reflexes," Erza nodded. "Is everyone ready?"
"Good thing I have fast reflexes," Natsu bragged.
"You sure?" Jellal cocked a brow.
"I don't know who I'm more afraid of," Levy admitted to Lucy, both of them giggling anxiously.
Sitting in a circle and promptly placing down a card when it was their turn, they stared at the pile, waiting for the specific black card.
Lucy already knew she was going to sit this one out, because she wanted to see what it was like to actually see the card.
"There it is!" Natsu shouted, swiftly slapping the pile. Yet another hand beat him to it.
"What happened to those fast reflexes of yours?" Jellal smirked.
"I'll get it next time," Natsu proclaimed.
Resuming the game when Jellal had neatly added the cards to his now giant stack, Lucy anticipated the specific black card.
The second Lucy viewed Erza laying her card down, she speedily moved her hand to the pile of cards.
Her body went numb as she felt another hand come on top of hers.
"Even Lucy's reflexes are better than yours," Jellal snorted.
"I'll win next time!" Natsu insisted stubbornly, easily taking his hand away.
A heavy pit entered Lucy's stomach while she wordlessly added the cards beneath the black card to her stack.
Was she supposed to act as though nothing important happened last night? By how Natsu was acting, it seemed as if he was doing just that.
It made Lucy's stomach flip upside down; however, if Natsu was doing it, that meant she had to do it, too.
"Lu-chan, since you don't have any cards left, you're out of the game," Levy notified after some time.
"And you were doing so well," Erza remarked. "You can still watch, though."
"Okay," Lucy accepted, hugging her knees and watching her friends play.
She'd much rather watch than play, anyway.
With laughter being louder than the thunder outside, everybody had lost track of time until Mirajane broke the news.
"We'll be leaving in half an hour, everyone."
"Don't say that," Gajeel grumbled.
"I'm depressed," Gray sighed.
Procrastinating till the last minute, the group didn't start packing their things until they heard Elfman start the van's engine.
"I wish we could have stayed here longer," Levy whined once her suitcase was tightly zipped.
"I wouldn't have minded staying here for at least another week," Erza admitted.
"Good thing we'll be back next summer," Lucy reminded to lighten up the mood.
As soon as the girls were finished packing, they heard the door beside theirs open.
"What is everyone doing for the rest of summer?" Cana poked her head in.
"I have to go back to school a few days a week with Jellal for student council meetings," Erza said, receiving a scoff from the brunette.
"I'm not doing anything this summer," Lucy answered.
"Me either," Levy agreed.
"Come work at Fairy Tail!" Lisanna suggested, hauling her suitcase with her as she walked in. "We're in need of some waitresses."
"My parents have been wanting me to get a summer job," Levy mused.
"I wouldn't mind having a summer job," Lucy shrugged. "It'll be easier to pay rent."
"I'll get Mira to get you two an application when we get back then," Lisanna grinned.
"Count me in, too," Cana stepped in. "The more money I have, the happier I am."
The girls snorted at their greedy friend, hearing a whistle echoing through the hallway.
"You girls better hurry up or we're leaving without you!" Gray called out.
The girls gasped while hurriedly rolling their suitcases out of the room and to the front of the beach house.
Once all of the suitcases were tucked in the back of the van and everyone had sprinted through the rain, they were forced to say goodbye to the beach house.
Yet Lucy was too focused on who she was sitting next to, so she didn't bother to wave goodbye to the house.
"How did I end up at the front of the van?" she thought to herself, pressing herself to the window as much as she could so she wouldn't have to feel Natsu beside her.
"Are you that afraid he's going to throw up on you?" Levy laughed lightly behind her.
"Aren't you afraid Gajeel is going to throw up on you?" Lucy retorted, pointing towards Gajeel's already blue-tinted face.
"He promised me he wouldn't," she replied.
"Whatever," Lucy waved her off, untwisting her back to the front of the van again.
Since Lucy couldn't bear the tension in between Natsu and her, she forced herself to nap after getting accustomed to Elfman's reckless driving.
Somehow, under all the random stops he did, there was a pattern in his driving.
She wasn't sure how long she was asleep, but when her eyes fluttered open again, she noticed that the window she leaned against wasn't so hard anymore.
Once a sweet smell of cologne drifted into her nose, that's when she realized.
"Morning," Natsu spoke as Lucy's head began to move.
"H-How long have I been leaning against you?" she stammered, lifting her head. "Why didn't you push me away?"
"Your head kept hitting the window," he explained. "I didn't want you to get a headache when you woke up."
Lucy's heart pounded in her throat—she tried not to let his gentle words get to her.
"How's your motion sickness?" she asked.
"I'm feeling it now that you moved," he confessed, holding his stomach with a frown.
Lucy opened her mouth, but nothing came out as she watched him squirm around.
"Is there anything I can do?" she almost pleaded.
Watching the color drain out of Natsu's face was horrifying to watch.
It wasn't until she was reminded on how to deal with Natsu's motion sickness when Lucy gently took a hold of his head and placed it in her lap.
"Is this how Lisanna did it?" she mumbled to herself, her fingers creeping into his soft hair.
Natsu nodded with eyes closed—the color in his face gradually reappearing.
"You're even better," he breathed out.
Lucy's eyes widened down at him, looking away before he opened his eyes to find her flaming cheeks.
She cursed herself for stealing a glance at his lips.
This was definitely not fair.
With Natsu's continuous groans competing with the radio playing, the road trip back home soon started coming to an end.
Lucy watched the racing raindrops on the window to entertain herself. Since Natsu was off into his own world, she didn't have anyone to share a funny expression when she saw a building.
What was different about this road trip was that before they had read their destination, everyone was awake from their naps.
"It doesn't look like summer at all," Lisanna pouted, staring out the window.
"And I have to work night shift tonight," Gajeel grumbled.
"Is the convenience store hiring?" Gray inquired. "I want a summer job."
"I'll check if there's any spots, I guess," Gajeel shrugged.
"Work at Fairy Tail!" Mirajane exclaimed in the passenger seat, turning around. "We need some servers."
"I'll consider it," Gray responded as the van started to slow down and eventually came to a complete stop.
"I'll get you an application after we eat," Mirajane stated, hopping out of the van to enter the restaurant.
Grateful that Elfman was nice enough to park below the overhang roof, the group slowly slid out of the van due to their legs that were still asleep.
"You boys get our suitcases," Erza commanded as she beckoned the girls to follow her inside Fairy Tail.
After the suitcases were inside, Mirajane was already serving customers, including the group who tried not to drool at the food that passed by them.
"You boys eat like you haven't eaten in days," Cana snickered at the messy eaters.
"Four hours do feel like days, though," Gray remarked.
"Yeah, right," Lucy stifled a laugh.
The group ate until their stomachs were entirely full—leaning back into their seats with content.
Once they decided to separate for the night—claiming they had seen too much of each other—Lisanna handed Levy, Cana, and Lucy a sheet of paper.
"Turn it in as soon as possible so you can start working with me!" Lisanna instructed gleefully.
The girls nodded simultaneously, waving goodbye to the Strauss siblings before leaving the restaurant.
"Is it still raining?" Levy wondered aloud.
"Nope," Cana answered when they stepped outside. "Thankfully, because it would've been a pain to drag my suitcase to my house in the rain."
"And I didn't bring an umbrella," Lucy added.
"Of course, the boys leave without waiting for us," Levy puffed out her cheeks, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well, I have to get home soon. I'll see you girls later," Erza waved as she started to walk off.
The girls separated at the same time, sending each other waves before turning around.
Lucy sighed, readying herself for all the puddles she was going to have to avoid due to her suitcase.
"For helping my motion sickness earlier," a hand reached for Lucy's suitcase, taking it away from her. "Here."
"Natsu?" Lucy questioned. "Didn't you leave already?"
"I didn't want to walk home by myself," he shrugged. "Let's go."
The two were silent as they headed to their home. Lucy viewed the concrete that still had scattered streaks of water from the rain.
"What are you doing for the rest of summer?" Natsu broke the silence eventually.
"I'm going to work at Fairy Tail, I think," she responded awkwardly.
"I'll probably go to Fairy Tail a lot more often now then. You think you can get me free food?" he attempted to joke.
"I don't want to risk it," Lucy shook her head with a slight laugh. "What are you doing this summer?"
"Maybe get a job, too," he considered slowly. "If I don't, I'll probably stay at home all day and play video games."
"Doesn't sound bad to me," she remarked with a small smile.
"Our apartment is going to be empty once you start working, too," he mentioned. "It'll get lonely."
"But you'll have Happy," she reminded.
"Not the same," he muttered, even though Lucy could hear it nice and clear.
Pressing her lips together in a tight line, she helped Natsu haul their suitcases up the metal stairs to their apartment.
"It feels good to be home," Natsu sighed happily while he unlocked the door.
Lucy had never felt so relieved when she found that Happy didn't tear up the apartment like she thought he would.
Watching Natsu give Happy the usual high-fives, Lucy entered her room to fall face first on her bed.
Despite not doing really anything all day, she felt exhausted.
She knew she wasn't imagining the tension in between Natsu and her anymore. It was certainly there, whether they liked it or not.
And they had no idea how to make it go away.
"Maybe we need to stay away from each other for a bit," Lucy debated with herself as she began to fill out the job application to Fairy Tail.
Waiting until Natsu entered his room so she could go out and brush her teeth for the night, she retreated to her room again to go to sleep.
It was hard to believe that twenty four hours ago, everyone was at the beach and sending fireworks into the sky.
But just like the fireworks, everything that happened was nothing but a memory now.
It didn't take long for Lucy to doze off in her warm bed that she didn't realize she missed so much.
When she woke up the next morning, a part of her didn't want to get up.
However, after remembering the filled out job application on her desk, she jumped out of bed to see if she could at least find out if she would get hired today.
"Morning, Happy," Lucy spoke while walking past him to the kitchen.
She was surprised that Natsu's door didn't creak open once she made her breakfast, but she didn't worry about it.
Their accidental kiss would be forgotten faster if they didn't see each other. At least that's what Lucy thought.
"Tell Natsu that I couldn't make him breakfast, okay?" Lucy requested to Happy before leaving the apartment.
She took Happy's steps away from her as a response.
Nearly skipping through the summer air, Lucy entered Fairy Tail, making a beeline towards the bar where Mirajane stood.
"Good morning, Mirajane," Lucy greeted as she sat down in one of the seats at the bar. "I'm here to turn in the application."
"Oh, great!" Mirajane smiled, accepting the paper. "Let me go check a few things. I'll be back."
Lucy nodded, watching Mirajane walk into the back where only employees could go. She returned shortly, waving her hand inside.
"Come in so I can show you around!"
The sight of the backroom was slightly overwhelming to Lucy, but she focused on what Mirajane instructed her to remember.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail, Lucy," Mirajane announced once the tour was over.
"Thank you," she grinned. "Have Levy or Cana applied yet?"
"No, not yet," Mirajane replied, "but someone else has."
"Who?" Lucy tilted her head, following Mirajane back to the bar.
Lucy's eyes widened as Mirajane pointed to the new pink-haired waiter already cracking jokes with the customers.
"I'm sure you and Natsu will have lots of fun working together!" Mirajane exclaimed.
"Of course," Lucy laughed weakly. "It'll be lots of fun."
As Mirajane turned around to get someone's order, Lucy let out a sigh.
There was definitely no possible way for her to avoid Natsu now.