I was thinking about splitting this chapter up...But I didn't...oh well~
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does.
Hazy lights buzzed overhead as the library stood still in a maze of books and stories. The warm light from the desk lamps tracked dust particles as they floated through the air in a frenzy. The lone scrape of pen on paper echoed from a study corner.
'Lupus- A tuberculous disease of the skin, most common in children of consumptive or scrofulous tendency.
Mediastinitis -Inflammation of the tissues in the chest cavity known as the mediastinum
Nephrosis- Non-inflammatory disease of kidn-'
"Studying alone on a Friday night in a dead silent library? What kind of a college student are you?" Lucy let out a little yelp at being interrupted.
"Oh dear! You scared me." Lucy pressed her hand to her heart in an attempt to calm down it's sudden harsh beating. Her eyes met green ones, as she looked at her visitor. The unforgiving fluorescent lights did nothing to damage his ruggedly handsome features. The casual grey sweatpants and black tank top he wore even seemed to help. Pink hair seemed freshly dyed since last time, since his dark roots were missing. He pulled up a wooden chair to sit across from her table.
"It wasn't hard seeing as you were concentrating on that paper as if your life depended on it"
"My life does depend on it. My future life that is." Lucy shot back. "Now if you'll excuse yourself, I'm going to get back to studying."
"All work and no play makes Lucy a very dull girl." Natsu recited as he picked up one of her pencils and tried balancing it to stand on it's own. After a few half hearted attempts, the number two pencil stood upright on it's nearly all gone eraser. Lucy snatched the pencil and set it back beside her. She continued writing, completely ignoring Natsu, whose lips started forming a pout. The light above the two flickered in a low buzz. "You know this isn't a very nice second date." Lucy's face erupted into a blush that would put a strawberry to shame. She broke the lead in her pencil as she pressed down hard on the paper in embarrassment.
"Date?! This is not a date, and it certainly isn't the second seeing as we have never had a first."
"You wound me, princess." Natsu laughed at her flustered state, as he balanced his chair on its two hind legs. Lucy grabbed her other pencil and looked Natsu in the eyes.
"Look, Natsu, I appreciate your company….just not right now."
"Why not now?" he inquired.
'Because I bombed my last test, and my Professor was very disappointed, so now I have to wow him on the next.' Her mind quickly answered. She cleared her throat
"Because I'm busy studying."
"You are always studying!" Natsu pointed at her with her broken pencil.
'when did he get tha- ugh. Never mind.'
"I am not always studying! I have fun...sometimes." Lucy wanted to slap herself for finishing that sentence in a slightly questioned tone. She wasn't helping her point and she knew that by the quirk in Natsu grin, he knew it too.
"Oh yeah? Name one thing you do for fun." Natsu prompted with arms crossed over his chest. The skin covering his biceps seemed to strain at the movement. His tank top left little to the imagination, as his arm muscles were shown proudly to the world.
"I have studying sessions with my frie-"
"Ah. ah. ah. Name one thing you do for fun that doesn't involve studying." He clarified with a smug smile. His lopsided grin seemed to hold so much amusement at the situation.
"Okay. Well...I hang out with my friends..or well a friend a lot."
"What do you guys normally do?" He asked casually, leaning his chair forward back onto the ground as he scooted closer interested. Lucy thought about the past weeks they had gone out to eat, and talked about the book club meetings they attended. A small smile was growing on her face at the memories. A smile that Natsu noticed immediately and put on his list of things he wanted to see more of. Lucy shook her head and the smile disappeared, leaving an odd feeling in Natsu's stomach. He labeled it as him being hungry again.
"We often go out to eat and chat over the latest books and stuff."
"This friend wouldn't happen to be the one dating that waiter would it?" Natsu asked, semi-curiously, but also just really wanting to keep the conversation going.
"Kinda dating." Lucy corrected. "And yes it is. Levy McGarden. My best friend since I started here."
"Is she a short little girl with light blue hair?"
"Yeah. She dyed it freshman year, as a way to celebrate her newly found freedom from her parents." Lucy laughed.
"She is in my AP chemistry class. She often blows up some stuff on accident. The funny thing is we will be doing something so mundane like boiling water and all of a sudden poof! The steam from the boiling water condensates on the overhead and drips onto the electric socket on top of the lab stations, short circuiting everyone's Bunsen burners." Natsu finished with a gleam in his eyes as he laughs at the story. Lucy let out a little laugh of her own and set down her pencil.
"She told me about that! She said they should have turned on the overhead! She was so embarrassed after that!" Lucy let out a little groan of embarrassment for her friend as her hand met her forehead slightly shielding her eyes.
"We normally only turn on the overheads when we are heating up fumes or chemicals. We were just boiling water!" Natsu laughed once more. Lucy felt a twinge of defense for her friend raise up in her.
"Well, surely she isn't the only one who accidentally blew something up. Hmm?" Lucy looked at Natsu with expectant eyes. He held up his hands in mock surrender.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Lucy."
"I can always ask Levy about it I suppose. After all she is really good at remembering the details." Lucy threatened.
"Alright alright! I'll tell." Natsu said through a chuckle. "Once upon a time," Lucy rolled her eyes. "when I was in Chemistry 101 freshman year, I may have accidentally….set fire to the teachers lab coat….and then his desk…." Natsu grounded out with an abnormally shy voice. Lucy's eye's grew wide.
"You're...joking right? You have to be! You would have gotten expelled if you did that!"
"I said it was an accident! They can't expel someone for an accident!" Natsu half yelled in his defense. If there had been a librarian anywhere close, she surely would have shushed him.
"Accident or not, how did you do it?" Lucy's curiosity was peaked her, definitions and studying forgotten. Natsu held back a grin at her eagerness.
"We were testing with carbon disulfide- a very, very flammable liquid...and-"
"Wait...you were doing a lab with Carbon disulfide!? That stuff is hazardous to humans! Like extremely poisonous to the nervous system! It's linked to toxin-induced parkinsonism! How on Earthland did you guys get okayed to handle it?!"
"Let's just say my teacher, Gildarts, knows people." Lucy's furrowed eyebrows seemed to deepen at the information. "Anyways, we were doing a lab and I was holding a beaker full of the liquid...and my shoelaces were untied and he was holding a lighter...You can probably connect the dots." Natsu scratched at the back of his neck.
"Oh my god! Was he okay? Your teacher?" Lucy sat on the edge of her seat. Natsu gave a goodhearted snort.
"Gildarts? He was fine. He just brushed it off. He always manages to destroyed his own stuff anyways. But let's just say, there is a reason why we are only allowed to wear slip-on or Velcro shoes now on lab days." They both laughed at the little jab Natsu made at himself. A sudden vibration startled Lucy out of their conversation. Her phone lit up, singling she was getting a call. She looked at the screen.
'Levy.' Lucy silently asked Natsu if she could take the call with her eyes. He waved her off, signaling it was okay.
"Hey there, Levy! What's up?" She turned slightly to the side while speaking. Out of the corner of her vision she thought she saw Natsu lean forward in interest at her best friend's name. From the phone came Levy's bubbly voice.
"Gajeel and I just scored tickets to the fair tonight!
"Really!? Oh Levy, that's amazing! I know how much you like carnivals and fairs!"
"But wait! There's more!" Levy's tone mocked that of an infomercial salesmen. Lucy let out a little giggle.
"We got two extra tickets! You should totally come with us! We can even find you a date. It could be a double date thing!" Her best friend's excitement was overflowing through the phone's speaker. Lucy glanced at Natsu, only to see him sporting a pencil mustache as he pursed his lips to keep it from falling.
"That sounds fun and all...but I'm busy stu-"
"Let me guess. You are too busy studying? Oh come on Lucy! Live a little! We haven't hung out in a week or two! Besides if you are insecure about finding a date, I can always find one for you." Levy provided.
"I can find a date!" Lucy puffed out her chest and spoke into the phone's receiver. Her eyes slid to Natsu, and she saw him with an eyebrow raised, the pencil stache falling off swiftly as he smiled in her direction.
"Then met me there at 8:00 o'clock by the front gates with your date! Ooo! Look that all rhymes!"
"But wait! Levy!"
"Not buts! See ya then!" The dial tone pieced Lucy's ear as she digested the situation. Great. Now she needed to find a semi decent date in...She checked the time on her phone. In less than two hours. She groaned into her hands, forgetting Natsu was still sitting across from her.
"You okay?" He asked, with a slight amused note in his voice. Lucy's head popped right back up, her eyes wide, staring into his. She sighed and straighten back up.
"Just dandy. I just need-"
"Just need to find a date?" Natsu finished her sentence with a tease.
"I was going to say a breather, but I see you like to eavesdrop."
"Is it really eavesdropping if you were sitting right in front of me, talking on your phone? Because if it is, I'm going to have to question your definitions." Natsu joked. However no awarding laugh was sounded from Lucy as something rang out in her head.
'Definitions!' Lucy frantically looked at her work on the desk, and cursed at her ability of being distracted. She still had over 20 definitions to look up and memorize.
"God dammit! You distracted me!" Lucy accused.
"Whoa. I didn't know the princess could curse." Natsu ducked from a projectile pencil being thrown at him.
"And there you go again with the princess jokes! And here I was thinking you were a normal nice guy!" Lucy wanted to cry from frustration. She knew it actually wasn't Natsu's fault for her being distracted. And despite his annoying princess jokes and bad table manners, he really is fun to talk to. Lucy took a deep breath in and out of her nose, willing herself to not panic and calm down. "Look. I'm sorry. I was just a little frazzled." Lucy apologized for her rude outburst.
"No worries. I've had worse words thrown at me. Trust me." Lucy only nodded her head in his direction as she tried to sort out and prioritize her next few actions. First she needed to cramp her definitions in her brain. She will give herself at least 20 minutes to familiarize herself with them. And then throughout the night she will just have to periodically test herself in her head. Second she needed to secure a date to the fair. She thought back to Loki. He seemed to be the perfect candidate. Levy doesn't know him, and he is a good friend of Lucy's, so she can easily explain the situation to him. Thirdly she needed to somehow ditch Natsu. Lucy started on the first mission.
One by one she swiftly wrote down definitions on the paper, her handwriting getting messier and sloppy as she when. The tension she held in her hand made a painful reminder of the urgency to get it done. Natsu seemed to understand her rush as his antics were put on hold, and he busied himself with whatever caught his fancy. A quiet chime of her alarm on her phone signaled her 20 minute mark. She had one more left. With albeit horrible handwriting she scrawled the sentence on her paper. She dropped her pencil and cradled her overworked hand. With a short break that lasted a few minutes, Lucy let out a sigh. It was 7:00 o'clock now. An hour left. Gathering her papers and folders she started to pack her things away. She picked up her pencils, some off from the floor, and tossed them all in her pencil bag. A flash of a dark yellow caught in the corner of her eye on the table, she must have missed a pencil. She turned to nab it only to see it was held tightly in Natsu's grasp. His arms were folded in a heap as he laid his head down on the makeshift cushion. Silent snores left his mouth, his back raising up and down repeatedly in slightly uneven intervals.
'When did he fall asleep?' Lucy racked her brain with the question. She couldn't come up with an answer. She laid a gentle hand on Natsu's back, slightly shaking his body in an attempt to wake the man.
"Natsu. Wake up. It's time to go. Come on. Wakey wakey." Lucy willed her voice to be a soft murmur to not rudely disturb him. Still he groaned at the action, burying himself deeper into his arms, not wanting to wake up from his blissful nap. Lucy wasn't having it. She increased her strength in shaking as she once again shook the man. "Natsu. You have to wake up. Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!" She called to him a little louder. At the mention of food, the pink haired man turned his head to the side in his arms, and opened up one visible eye. With a long sniff of the air Natsu mumbled,
"Liar. I don't smell any food." Despite his accusation, Natsu lifted his head up from his arms and stretched. His hair stuck up in all different directions, and Lucy noticed the slight dark pink splotches of dyed skin on the back of his neck.
'Guess he doesn't dye it professionally.' Lucy mused. A few pops and cracks later from his stiff muscles, Natsu stood and ran a hand through his hair, a lousy attempt to tame the stray strands.
"I'm leaving, and I figured you didn't want to spend the night here." Lucy explained to the slightly still dazed man in front of her. A yawn left his lips that he didn't bother to cover.
"You are right about that. I wouldn't hear the end of it if Gray found out I passed out in the library." Lucy pushed in her chair and Natsu followed in her example. She strapped her bookbag over her chest and grabbed her phone. Natsu fell into step beside her as the two left the secluded study spot. As they passed the millions of bookcases that went all the way to the ceiling, Lucy noticed that the library was in fact empty. She made a mental note to come back here next Friday to see if it was always this quiet. Nobody likes a busy library. Some people just had too much time on their hands and wanted to find entertainment anywhere. Unfortunately they sometimes chose the library and that left Lucy with a poor studying session. Natsu's voice broke Lucy out of her thoughts.
"So where are we going next?" His voice seemingly eager and empty of all the previously sleepiness. His innocent question almost made Lucy stop in her tracks.
"We? Well I'm going to go find a date. And you are going to do whatever you normally do on a Friday night." She explained as she pushed opened the library doors, the familiar chime of the bell sang out it's goodbye. Natsu still walked with her side by side when outside. The sun was just setting, little rays of the orange light squeezed through the partially covered horizon, splashing the pair with warm light at some angles. Natsu watched as the light weaved in and out of Lucy's hair, making the blonde strands alive with streaks gold. It was memorizing to watch. Natsu shook his head to rid himself of his momentarily distracted state. Lucy had her phone out and was rapidly texting.
"Well why do you need to go find a date when you got one right here?" Natsu innocently asked as he gestured to himself. A growing smile on his face, made Lucy almost smile.
"For your information I believe I already have a date." Lucy showed him her phone screen confidently knowing her friends answer. She had texted Loki about her predicament, and was sure he would simply agree. After all she helped him out in a similar situation before. However when the three dots were replaced with Loki's response, Natsu's smile only widen.
"Looks like your little date is already busy." Confusion sprawled across Lucy's face. She flipped her phone back to her, reading the barista's response.
"What?! What do you mean you already have a date tonight?!" She texted her orange haired friend her questions. The three little dots appeared again. Lucy watched the animation of the dots desperately wanting it to be a joke. The dots disappeared for a slight second before reappearing. The short vibration came with his text. Lucy's eyes scanned the message. Apparently Loki finally got a date with his coworkers friend. He had been pining after her for months now, always saying how her timidness was endearing and her soft fluffy voice was music to his ears. Lucy sighed and shoved her phone in her pocket. A muffled chuckle left Natsu's mouth that made Lucy turn her head and look at him with an irked raise of her eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" She dared him to laugh at her. She dared him. An evil glint flashed in her eyes. Natsu, sensing the girl's annoyance, tried his best to contain his amusement. Because a situation like this was absolutely not funny to him. His mind thought back to the absolutely look of beaming confidence as she showed him her phone. He almost cackled at the irony. Almost. He held himself together. His voice was lower as he realized he might be treading on eggshells.
"Nothing. Nothing whatsoever." He lied.
"That's what I thought." Lucy grumbled out. Now what was she suppose to do? She had a little over half an hour to find a date and meet up with Levy. Lucy face palmed with a soft groan. Through her fingers she glanced at Natsu who all but sparkled at the situation. His eyebrows slide up and down as he slapped on a cheesy smile.
"Don't you have something else to do?" Lucy prompted in a last hope to at least finish number three on her list. "Surely you don't want to be dragged around at a grubby little fair."
"Nope." Natsu replied popping the P. " I normally chill with friends on Friday nights. And look. You are a friend. So let's go chill." He grabbed her hand and tugged her down the street. As he lead her down the street, a gust of wind blew her hair back. An overwhelming stench assaulted her nose. She had smelled this before…but where? She sniffed again, and was met with the same smell. Was it just passing by? Where was it coming from? The smell seemed to be blowing in front of her. With one last inhale through the nose, Lucy pinpointed the smell. Nicotine. And it was….coming from Natsu?
The two had made it to the gates in record time. The sun had set and the fair's lights were illuminating the night. Screams and yells were heard in the distance as the roller coaster raced about. Lucy couldn't help the excited shiver that ran through her body. She had always loved amusement parks. The mouthwatering smell of deep fried food wafted throughout the crisp chilling air. The warm glow of stalls invited many ongoing walkers in, at a chance to win the biggest prizes.
"There you are!" the little bluenette ran towards Lucy and grabbed her into a hug. Lucy let out a laugh as she returned the hug and swung her best friend around. Gajeel ruffled the blonde's hair with his big hand.
"Missed ya, bunny girl." His rough voice was low as he mumbled out the greeting. Lucy eyes warmed. A gentle cough broke the girl out of her musings Natsu stood to the side, hands shoved into his pockets. A sheepish smile laid upon his lips, as he took out one hand to send a short wave towards the trio.
"Ah. Levy, Gajeel. This is Natsu. Natsu this is Levy and Gajeel." Lucy lamely introduce. Levy gave an energetic wave towards the pink haired male, then tugged at the blonde's hand. In a low murmur Levy teased,
"You sure know how to pick them don't you?" Lucy's brain almost short circuited, her face redden by the second as she furiously denied. Gajeel noticed the two girl's whispering and decided to introduce himself better. He walked the short distance over to Natsu and held out his hand.
"Yo. I'm Gajeel. You're the same guy I saw with Lucy at my workplace right?" Gajeel inquired as Natsu grasped his hand firmly.
"Yeah. That was me." Natsu felt an unasked question linger in the air, but he wasn't sure what it was. Natsu held in a wince as Gajeel's hand tighten around his hand suddenly.
"So how long have you and Lucy been dating?" the bluntness of the question didn't seem to shock Natsu. He maintained eye contact with the black haired man searching for any real intents of harm. Seeing as it was only a warning he nearly shoved his hands back into his pockets. Before he could respond, a loud shrill came from Lucy.
"We aren't dating! He is just a fri-"
"Friend. We are just friends." Natsu finished as he slid coolly over to Lucy. He could see the redness of her face fully thanks to the lights of the tents around them. Gajeel eyed the pair before letting a lone eyebrow raise in question. Levy seemed to pout at the statement. Gajeel soon recovered the smiley girl, as he rested his arm on top of her head.
"Are we going or what, Shrimp?" At the call of her nickname her smile dropped from her face, being replaced by a scowl.
"Stop calling me shrimp!" Levy demanded as she broke from his hold, turning around to cross her arms at him. Gajeel just yawned at his somewhat girlfriend's annoyance as he started walking one of the many pathways of the fair.
"Whatever you say Shrimp." he lazily called out. Levy let out a puff of air before following him, the stroke of her short legs fast as she had to catch up to him. When caught up she punched him in the arm with all her strength. His bellowing laughter resounded and he offered the tiny girl his hand. She looked at it before taking it in hers.
"Well they certainly are an odd pairing." Natsu observed.
"And Levy says they aren't even dating." Lucy offered up the information as she started walking after the two in question.
"How can they not be dating? They already act like a lovey dovey couple." Natsu fell into step beside her, his pace slightly slower in order to match Lucy's.
"Sometimes they even act like an old married couple." Lucy laughed lightly at her personal joke. "Whenever I bring it up though, Levy just says it's complicated." Lucy finished with a shrug. Natsu looked at Lucy with a quip of his eyebrow. He then looked on towards Levy and Gajeel an odd sense overwhelming him. The next words that came out of his mouth made no sense to Lucy.
"Yeah. Well it is very complicated...for us to have normal relationships." Natsu normally carefree air turned cryptic once more, and Lucy hated it. She was just about to open her mouth to ask what the heck he meant, when a big, burly man accidentally bumped into her.
"Sorry, ma'am." his voice called out, as he kept on walking. Lucy rubbed her shoulder and continued her own stroll around the fair. However when she tried to turned to speak to Natsu about the topic at hand, she couldn't seem to find him.
'He had been here just a minute ago.' Her thoughts raced to find a possible explanation as to where he went. Maybe he go lost..? She started to scan the crowd for a tuft of pink hair, but found it hard due to all the flashing fair lights and tents. In the sea of faces she couldn't find his. She started to looked for the tall big black haired man she knew as Gajeel but came up flat as well. She racked her brain for things to do in a situation when you get separated in a crowd.
'Do I stay put? Or do I walk around and try to find them? Maybe I should go find a food stall and just stay there? But if I leave my spot maybe when they notice I'm gone they will come back to it and see me not there. Aren't the abduction rates high in fairs?! What if Levy and Gajeel find me dead in a ditc-'
"With the way you are having a stare down with the ground, I would think it just insulted your mother or something." Lucy whipped her head around to see Natsu, munching on a cone of blue spun sugar. He offered up the pink cotton candy in his other hand to her. Lucy started at the treat. The tiny pink sparkles hidden in the fluff caught in the lights, making it seem magical. She gingerly took the sugary treat into her hands and nodded in thanks. Her mouth loved the way the sweetness dissolved on her tongue. She took another bite.
"You know you could have told me where you were going." Lucy reprimanded as she settled down from the panic in her inner monologue.
"Aw you missed me?" At his tease Lucy just shot him a glare which he laughed good heartedly at. "I saw the cotton candy stall and thought I'd get some for us. I just forgot to tell you. Sorry." Natsu let out a small smile as he apologized
"You're lucky you picked me the pink cotton candy. It's my favorite. So I'll forgive you." Lucy said as she look away from Natsu, stuffing her face with more of the sweetly spun cloud.
"Haha, thanks. Now let's get a going. I hear they have one of those strength tester here, No doubt I'm going to try it and win the grand prize." Natsu puffed out his chest and slapped on a smug face. He grabbed Lucy's hand. "Just so you won't get lost again." he sent her a wink. Lucy's cheeks pinken, a light dusting across her face.
'Blushing- a brief, diffuse erythema of the face and neck, commonly the result of dilation of superficial small blood vessels in response to heat or sudden emotion.'
"You coming Bunny Girl?" Gajeel called out already standing at a game tent, Levy was fully immersed in. Lucy stored away the definition and quickly nodded her head.
The two pairs went around the fair, trying all sorts of games. Lucy had found she was really good at the guessing games. Where as Natsu dominated in the throwing and tossing games. Levy had pointed out that all the fortune tellers and tarot card readers, were total frauds. Lucy rolled her eyes. Levy always was a logical one, not following any spiritual nonsense. The two eventually split up, seeing as Levy wanted to ride the monster roller coaster, with a line the size of the Grand Canyon. Gajeel waited in line with her, as Levy told Lucy to drag Natsu around the fair, maybe even get him to win her a few prizes. Levy's tone held nothing innocent, as she smirked at her friend. Lucy just pushed her friend in the shoulder telling her to cut it out, that it wasn't like that, but her blush proved her words mute.
Lucy lead Natsu to more hit and win games, at which he completely annihilated at. He easily knocked down all the pins, with less than three hits. One round he even knocked them all down with a single ball. Colorful lights flashed about as an animatronic voice announced that he was a winner. The vendor was amazed and offered up Natsu the biggest prize he had. What threw Lucy off was Natsu always denied the vendor's offer, saying he didn't need the prize.
"Why do you not get the prizes at the end?" she finally questioned.
"Why are you asking? Do you want one?" Natsu asked as the shot at the moving target with his water gun. His brow was furrowed, and his forehead sweaty as he concentrated at his task.
"No. Not particularly. It just seems weird." She watched as he dropped his gun, having seemingly won once again.
"Nothing weird about it. You and I both know we don't want to lug around a bunch of giant stuffed animals while we walk the fair." Natsu commented, a bead of sweat running down his temple. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "Man, am I thirsty." He lifted up the bottom of his black tank top to dab at the running sweat. With a now semi dry face, Natsu let his eyes land on his blonde partner. "Wanna go grab some grub?" Lucy's stomach growled in response. She gave into the scrumptious aroma of the deep fried food. And it appeared that Natsu was right behind her, eyeballing all the of the food stalls they passed like a rabid dog. Lucy's ringtone joined her stomach in voicing its opinion. She answered.
"Hey Lucy. We are going to head over to the huge food court in the middle of the fair grounds. Gajeel wouldn't go on another ride until he got some food. Want to join us?"
"You have marvelous timing as always Levy. I'll meet you there in five. See ya later." Lucy hung up the phone. She saw Natsu walking towards the 'Make your own Kebab' station, drool seemingly coming from his mouth. Lucy yanked him back by his arm.
"Oh no ya don't. We are meeting Levy and Gajeel in the food court. Come one." Lucy tugged at the man.
"Buttttt Lucy!" Natsu whined. "One little kebab won't hurt, right?" He turned to her with large puppy eyes. Lucy was grateful she had built up an immunity towards the trick. She tugged him once again away from his desired food station, and towards the food court.
"No. We are going to eat at the food court. Come on. Stop dragging your feet!" Lucy nagged at the suddenly five year old man. Lucy's muscles started to ache as she had to actively push Natsu towards the meet up place. When they arrive at the spot, Natsu plopped down in a chair with a huge pout, mumbling about a lost meal. Lucy just sighed and rubbed her arms. She was going to be sore in the morning no doubt. While waiting for Levy and Gajeel to show up, Lucy took out the piece of paper she had shoved in her pocket.
'Kaposis disease- Extreme formation of freckles with tendency to ulcerate
Multiple sclerosis- A degenerative disease in which the linings of nerves in the brain and spinal cord deteriorate resulting a wide spectrum of symptoms.'
"Please don't tell you brought your study sheet here, Luce." A hand grabbed at her paper. She quickly let go of it, not wanting it to rip. Natsu's eyes scanned the sheet, and groaned. "Oh my god. You did!" Natsu started folding up the piece of paper. Lucy's hand desperately shot out, trying to grab the paper from him.
"I need that!" Her pleads did nothing to stop Natsu from slipping the folded definitions into his pocket.
"Tell ya what. I'll help you study throughout the night."
"Really?" Lucy's tone left a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "Thank you so-"
"IF! There's an if." Natsu interrupted. "If and only if, you start actually having fun." Natsu tapped his finger against Lucy's nose. He leaned back in his chair with a knowing smile.
"Pfft, What? I-I've been having fun!"
"Sure. And I'm a monkey's uncle." Natsu sarcastically snorted out. "You've been tense all evening."
"Yeah well someone keeps being the center of attention at any and every stall we go to! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to have millions of strangers congratulate me for your winning streak?!" Lucy retorted crossing her arms.
"What can I say. I'm pretty awesome."
"If anyone is awesome, it's this little girl over here." Gajeel interjected as he pulled up a chair. "She rode over ten rides so far, and hasn't complained once about being dizzy or nauseous." His voice was weak as he sunk into his seat, exhausted. Levy pulled up her chair, and patted his head in pity.
"You never were good at amusement rides." Levy passed the tired man a bottle of water she got from the counter. He graciously gulped down the clean liquid as if it was the drink of gods. "You shouldn't have rode that last one. Your motion sickness double in severity after it." Gajeel only groaned again in response. The pairs ordered their food and dug in, the very tired Gajeel gone at the sight of food. Natsu's manners weren't as bad as they were last time. But that might have been because Lucy was now comparing his habits to Gajeel's, who was lacking in the etiquette of proper eating without making a mess as well. While Lucy tried her best to avoid dodging the projectile food, she turn to Levy to gush about the newest book she got her hands on. The main character was an absolute klutz when it came around to the guy she liked. It was downright hilarious the encounters she had with him. Levy's drink almost went up her nose when Lucy shared one of the embarrassing tidbits.
When everyone was done eating, the entire table was messy. Lucy made a mental note to teach Natsu how to successfully get all the food into his mouth. The night's chill had finally settled in, making Lucy shiver. Levy noticed.
"You know what would warm us up? Another roller coaster! Come on let's go!" Levy started off towards another ride, but before she could make any leeway, Gajeel grabbed the back of her shirt, stopping her in her tracks.
"Whoa, whoa there, pipsqueak. We all just finished eating. I don't think it's a very smart idea to jump immediately back on a fast track death machine."
"I agree with Gajeel. Let's just sit back and chill for a bit." Lucy chimed in.
"Three against one, Levy." Natsu slide up to stand beside Lucy with a small smile. Levy let out a defeated sigh.
"Okay, okay. Fine. How do you guys suppose we all 'chill'?" the cynical taunt in her voice was underlying. She was obviously upset that she couldn't go on more rides.
"Natsu and I have just been walking around the fair, playing stall after stall. Surely Gajeel won't mind playing a few games." Lucy prompted.
"Yeah, Gajeel and I can even have a competition in a few of them." Natsu baited and with a cocky smile he added. "Though I'm sure he will lose." He picked at his teeth lazily, throwing a smug look towards the male.
"Sure I'm going to lose?" Gajeel scoffed, his competitive spirit taking front seat. " I'm sure you're going down, Pinkie." A tick formed in Natsu's eyebrow.
"Bring it on, Metalhead."
The two rushed to the nearest game, and practically scared the vendor, leaving the two girls behind. Lucy laughed at the two as she could still hear them bickering.
"Your aim seems to be a little rusty, eh Metalhead?"
"You throw like a girl, Pinkie."
"You would know!" Natsu shot back, putting so much force into the throw he almost knocked down the whole row. Levy tugged at Lucy's shirt, promptly getting her attention.
"It's almost like those two were made to butt heads."
"Haha, I can't say Natsu isn't a hothead." Lucy joked as they walked to join the guys, who had moved to another stall already. Lucy took this chance to look around and appreciate the carnival-like lights. The roller coaster zipped by, electric blue lights on the bottom illuminating the excitement on the rider's faces. The ferris wheel spun steady, red and orange lights alternating between each compartment. The smell of buttery popcorn wafted under Lucy's nose. The faint sound of cheerful music drifted in the air, that was supercharged with energy. Lucy looked up to the sky, slightly disappointed that, despite how pretty all the lights were, they blocked out the star's natural glow in the night's sky. Twenty minutes passed quickly, and the two men had finally wore themselves out.
"Ah ha! I told you I was going to win!" Natsu taunted.
"Whatever. You have to admit I gave you a run for your money." Gajeel bargained as he tightened his bandanna around his forehead holding back his hair. Natsu gave him a big grin and a punch to the shoulder. Levy walked up to Gajeel and took his hand, resting her head on his arm. They walked on one of the many paths. Natsu knew not to follow them. He glanced around and spotted a certain blonde haired beauty. Lucy was busy looking at a small tent that was selling little trinkets, to notice Natsu sneak up behind her.
"Boo!" he startled the blonde. She yelped in surprise. Natsu almost doubled over in laughter at the look of her face.
"Hey! It's not funny!" Lucy yelled at the giggling man. She stomped her foot in slight embarrassment. She couldn't keep mad for long, as she started to catch the giggles herself. Soon she was laughing with the pink haired boy.
"Haha, see. I think that deserves one definition." Natsu rummaged in his pocket before pulling out the desired piece of paper. "Let's see what we have here…." he mumbled to himself as his eyes scanned the page. She had marked off the ones she thought she already knew. A few were left unmarked at the bottom.
"Paralysis - A total or partial loss of sensation and power of movement, often only affecting a specific part of the body." Natsu smoothly read his voice clear and understandable. Lucy grabbed at the knowledge and mentally willed herself to store it in her brain. She repeated the definition a few times before she nodded. She reached for the paper, until Natsu yanked it back from her grasp.
"I said one definition. You have to earn the others still."
"What?" Lucy asked confused.
"Our deal was you have to have fun in order to get one. Remember?" Natsu knocked his knuckles against her head. "Now come on! Let's go play this one. Just you and me." Natsu dragged her to a balloon pop game.
"But wait. Where did Levy and Gajeel go?" Lucy questioned as she looked around for her friends.
"They went on a stroll alone, probably to do something coupley." Natsu's face looked mocked grossed out as he relayed the information.
'Awww.' she swooned in her head. 'Maybe she will finally get that kiss.' Lucy mentally cheered on her friend. The vendor gave her three darts.
"What level do you want to start on?" The vendor's voice was muffled under his huge grey mustache.
"Easy." Natsu choose for her. Lucy shot him a look. She raised an eyebrow.
"Hard." She corrected. The vendor looked between the two, Natsu shrugged and cocked his head towards the Lucy. He leaned back on one of the tents pillars and crossed his arms. The vendor nodded his head and flipped the lever to hard. The balloons started moving in all different directions. Some had patterns, others were random. Lucy rolled the darts in her left hand, as she aimed one with her right. She let it soar through the air. Miss. She let go of her disappointment and place all her concentration on a red balloon. She aimed carefully, trying to track it's movements before throwing. She closed one eye, and stuck out her tongue. She heard a stifled laugh from her right, no doubt Natsu. She threw the dart. It landed right beside her targeted balloon. Miss. Lucy glanced over to Natsu who gave her an encouraging thumbs up. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head at him, gracing him with the sight of her tongue. This resulted in another laugh from the man.
'Deep breaths Lucy. Deep Breaths.'
Lucy steady her hand, her nerves trying to take over. What was she nervous about anyways? She could easily pop one of these balloons. She had aim like a sniper. They weren't even moving that fast. Lucy blinked, and increased her concentration tenfold. The colors started blurring together. Man, she wished reverse psychology worked on her. She targeted a big blue balloon, boarding the edge. It seemed to be moving only up and down. Okay. Lucy can do that. Easy. totally. She set up her aim. Right as she was about to release her last dart, Natsu sneezed, causing her to lose her focus. Her throw was way off, the dart impaling one of the stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling.
Disappointment coursed through her. She pouted. Natsu glanced at the impaled stuffed animal, before his eyes landed on the deflated girl. Before he could speak, he saw something amazing. The once deflated girl evolved. She squared back her shoulders and sucked in her pout. The look of sheer determination shined in her eyes.
"One more round. Hard." She slammed her hands down on her front counter. The vendor complied wordlessly. She roller the three darts in her hands. One throw. Miss. She bit her lip. Second threw. Graced a yellow balloon. No popping echoed in the air. Lucy did not look disheartened. She breathed out through her nose. With the simple flick of her wrist she sent her last dart flying, unknowingly letting her eyes close before she could see the result.
POP!
"Wah! Luce! You got one!" Natsu laid his arm around her shoulder, squeezing in congratulation.
"Congrats, girly. You got yourself a prize!" The vendor exclaimed while tipping his hat to the side. Lucy opened her eyes.
"Hahaha! Look! I did it!" She sparkled with pride as she turned into Natsu.
"So which prize are you gunna get?" Natsu asked with a smile. He liked the way her eyes were shining with wonder as she looked at the available prizes she could choose from. She tapped her finger against her lip before pointing at the stuffed animal she had accidentally impaled earlier. It resembled a snowman, with it's orange coned nose.
"Can I have that one?" She asked, her voice full of innocence. The vendor nodded as he reached for the toy with his cane. He brought it down and plucked the dart from the stuffed animal's torso.
"So he was your target all along." the vendor joked as he handed over the prize. Lucy laughed and hugged the stuffed animal to her chest.
"Polycythaemia - An excess of red blood cells" Natsu's voice rung out. Lucy looked up to see Natsu scanning the study sheet as he read. A smile found itself spreading in her face as she looked at the pink haired boy. It's moments like these where she appreciated him. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to another stall, a horse shoe throwing one. They played stall after stall. Laughter was shared and spluttered about. Lucy couldn't remember when she had this much fun in ages, when the last definition was shared, she hardly cared, and dragged Natsu onto a roller coaster. She found out the hard way that he wasn't too keen on the fast moving rides. When they were sitting on a bench, taking a break, much needed to Natsu's standards, Lucy's phone went off. She picked it up.
"Hey, Bunny Girl. Levy is falling asleep on me. We are going to go ahead and skedaddle. Can you and Pinkie get home okay? Or do you guys need a ride?" Gajeel's voice was full of exhaustion. She looked at Natsu's watch on his wrist. It read almost 11:00 o'clock.
"We can make it home ourselves, thanks for the offer though. It was fun hanging out with you guys again." Lucy smiled into the receiver. She had so much fun. I'll see you guys around?"
"That is if you can pry your nose out of your books long enough."
"Haha, says the one who has a secret stash of romance novels under his bed!" Lucy teased. She knew the day she accidentally found out she would always hold it over his head.
"Hey! I told you those were Levy's!" Lucy could just picture his flustered face. She giggled.
"Sure sure. Goodnight Gajeel."
"Goodnight Lucy." came his reply before Lucy hung up. A groan came from the man beside her. She rolled her eyes.
"Alright Mr. Weak Stomach. Time to go home." Lucy patted Natsu's shoulder. He looked so pitiful with his eyes closed, clutching his stomach. His face had a slight sheen of sweat coating his skin.
"You know. If you didn't want to go on the rides, you could have just said so instead of….what was it you said…'Being a man?'" Lucy told Natsu as he rolled over on his side away from her. He only groaned in response. Lucy called them both a cab. It arrived ten minutes later in front of the fair, which was still going at full tilt. "Up and at'em, Natsu. Come on." Lucy swung Natsu's arm around her shoulders and managed to balance half of his weight with hers. She helped him to the cab, with slight difficulties. Lucy told the cab driver the address of her house, meanwhile she tried to coaxes Natsu's out of his weak state.
"Either you tell me, or you sleep out on the streets." She threatened halfheartedly. Natsu seemed to think she was serious and let out a grumble of his address. The slight pout to his features made Lucy almost giggle. "You didn't think I would let you have a improv sleepover at my place did you?" His lack of response was all Lucy needed to finally let loose a laugh at his sorry state. With more energy than Lucy thought he had, Natsu turned over in the car seat and faced her with a glare, which melted away almost immediately into a green face as the taxi hit a bump. A thought crossed Lucy's mind. "Is the car making your motion sickness worse?" The boy seemed to finally find his words.
"A little." His voice croaky and harsh. He moved his head back to rest on the window, probably finding comfort in the slightly cold glass. Lucy racked her brain for a solution. She reached over to the boy to move him.
"The vibrations from the window probably aren't helping." She explained as she gently moved his head to lay on the back headset of his seat. "And you should open your eyes and look towards the horizon, that will help center your equilibrium so the motion won't overwhelm you too much." He cracked his eyes open, the green orbs dark. He turned his head over and stared at her. He hummed in compliance. The yellowed light from the street lamps illuminated his skin as they passed.
"I'm not the horizon." She moved his head back to look straight ahead. His eyes however remained stubbornly on her. She sighed and went on. "When you get home I advise you to make yourself some ginger tea, or well anything with ginger. It's been proven to help settle stomachs, especially when they were upset by motion sickness." He started to close his eyes as he hummed once more. She didn't notice as she went on about how to settle an upset tummy. It wasn't until he almost started snoring that she noticed his now sleepy state.
"Hey. This is important information." She nudged him with her elbow. He cracked open his eyes once more and surprised Lucy with smile.
"It's cute when you get all medical and stuff." He mumbled out. It was the truth. He really liked it when she went on and on about all her knowledge she had store up in that super smart brain of hers. He effectively caused her to choke on her own tongue when he voice it out loud though. In the dark cab, Lucy prayed that no one saw her blush.
"Ahh...well…" she let her sentence hang in the air. The car came to a steady stop as the cab driver opened the window compartment.
"Here we are at Riverside apartments on Strawberry Street." Lucy glanced at Natsu to see him with his eyes on her.
"It's my stop." Was all she found herself saying. She oddly didn't want to leave him.
'Because of his weakened state.' She reasoned with herself. Although deep down she knew that was a lie.
The smile she had seen so many times already spread across the pink haired man's face.
"I'm fine. Go ahead and go." His voice stronger and more lively. Lucy nodded, grabbing her stuff animal, which she named Plue, and started to get out of the taxi. She was stepping out of the car, when she turned around and reminded
"Don't forget what I said about the ginger."
"How could I when it was practically all you talked about!" Natsu reassured her. He let out a chuckle at the familiar tick in her eyebrow at his teasing. She started closing the door when Natsu called to her.
"Sweet dreams, Luce." She paused before replying.
"Goodnight Natsu." He watched as she walked up a few steps before opening the main door and disappearing from his sight. The taxi started moving once more, but not without the taxi driver's comment.
"One sweet girlfriend you got there." Natsu once again only hummed. He had a lot to think about now, and the feeling of the motion sickness kicking back in wasn't helping.
Next chapter, will questions be answered?