Hey guys, I know it's been a really long time, but I was pretty unmotivated to keep doing this. Here's the next chapter, constructive criticism is encouraged!
On a normal Monday morning, Lucy could be found humming to herself at seven a.m., a spring in her step as she made her usual breakfast: coffee and pancakes. Today was definitely not one of those days. She had woken up tired after last night's shenanigan, which was something basically unheard of. The blonde was a huge morning person, something her friends just didn't understand. That, piled with the stress of starting a new job and having her coffee machine break, had put Lucy in a terrible mood.
She sighed as she looked in the mirror. Her blonde hair was put up in a simple ponytail, not having the time to do anything fancy, and her face looked like crap. Jittery after having chased the pink haired idiot out of her house last night, she hadn't been able to sleep for a couple hours, successfully leaving dark bags under her eyes. She glanced up at the clock and cursed. She was going to be late for work if she didn't leave soon. After one last glance in the mirror, she turned out the light and headed back for her living room.
Rushing through her kitchen, her hand went to swipe her keys of their usual spot on the counter, only for her hand to hit the fruit bowl instead. Turning and looking at the counter, her brows knit in confusion when she didn't see her keys. She slowly looked at the surface again, but they hadn't seemed to reappear in the short amount of time. Wondering where they could be, she thought back to last night. When the pink haired idiot was scrambling around for his cat, he had knocked a few things off the counter. She shook her head in dismay. There was no way she would make it to work on time now.
Setting down her purse, she got onto her hands and knees, slowly inspecting the floor before reaching under the fridge. A grin slowly made its way to her face. She could feel the edge of her key ring. Slowly reaching farther under her fridge, her heart ran cold when she felt something run across her hand. She screamed before jerking her arm out from under it.
Lucy Heartfilia wasn't scared of much, but almost nothing scared her more than good old spiders. After a few seconds of waiting, the blonde checked under the fridge, making sure the tiny devil had disappeared before sticking her hand back under to grab the keys.
Feeling nothing but cold tile, she frowned. Had she shoved them farther under the fridge when she jerked her hand away? Once again on her hands and knees, she peered under the fridge, only to have her suspicions confirmed. Before, the keys had been about halfway under, and now they were touching her back wall. She sighed before sitting up, balancing on the balls of her feet. She rubbed her hands over her face, starting to quiver. She really didn't have time for this.
After getting up and rushing around her apartment, searching for something that she could swipe her keys with, she returned back to the kitchen, empty handed. She would have to walk.
Twenty minutes later, she finally made it to the office, half an hour late. By the time she got there, her face was slick with sweat and stray hairs were sticking out of her ponytail, Magnolias humid summer air having worked its magic. Since she was already so late, she figured an extra five minutes spent cleaning up wouldn't hurt.
Quickly finding the bathroom, she quickly assessed herself in the mirror. The ponytail she had put in earlier was downright pathetic, loose hairs either stuck to her sweaty face or sticking straight up into the air. The bags under her eyes had faded some, but they were still clearly visible against her pale skin. Looking down, she saw that the blue blouse and black skirt she had worn that day were still intact, albeit slightly damp.
After having quickly fixing her ponytail and rinsing off her face, she made her way to her bosses office. She had yet to see where she would actually be working, so she was in need of a guide. After asking around, she quickly found her boss's room, hands trembling a little as she started to knock, but paused. What if he fired her for being so late? She took a deep breath before finally knocking, entering only after heard a 'come in' from the other side.
Seeing her boss, she was surprised to say the least. Since she had been interviewed by a girl, a little older than her, by the name of Mirajane, this was her first time meeting him. He was a very short man, the top of his graying head only reaching her midsection. He was older, from the looks of it well into his fifties. A nameplate on his desk identified him as Makarov Dreyar. She stared at him and his huge mustache for a minute before speaking up.
"My names Lucy Heartfilia," she bit out, her voice a little breathy. "I'm the new girl here, and I know I'm more than a little late, so I can understand if you don't want me to come back." She hung her head in shame, biting her lip, waiting on his response. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't let her stay. This was the only job close to her home, and it had taken her months to find.
"Why in the world would I do that?" he grumbled, before clearing his throat. "Out of all the people Mira interviewed, you were the only one she liked. Firing you would only piss her off." the old man chuckled before he continued. "She basically runs the place around here, just forget about me."
She could only look at him in surprise. Her mind spun. She wasn't being fired? She sighed in relief.
"Well, since I'm not being fired, I was wondering if you could show me where my office is." she mumbled. "No one ever showed me where it was, so I'm kind of lost."
"Of course, of course. I have to warn you though, you'll be sharing a space with Natsu, and although he means well…" his voice trailed off as he scratched his head. "I guess you'll see when you meet him." He paused for a minute before continuing. "If you knock on the door to the room to the right of mine, my grandson will show you where to go. Just tell him you'll be with Natsu."
Lucy nodded her head and gave him her thanks before heading out the door. She couldn't believe she got to keep her job. Breathing a sigh of relief, she ran her sweaty hands down her torso and leaned against the wall. Looking around, the place didn't look much like an office. The walls were wooden, and the lighting was dimmer than expected, giving the place a homey feeling. There were plants lining the hallway, and pictures were hung up of what had to be a couple of the workers.
Standing up, Lucy walked slowly down the hallway, thoroughly examining the pictures. Most of them had Makarov, with various workers striking silly poses. She giggled, she had a feeling she would like it here. Once she arrived at the doorway, she knocked without hesitation, expecting another warm welcome. After hearing a considerably more gruff 'come in', she walked in more hesitantly.
Once again, her new workplace surprised her. Looking at the room, she couldn't believe that this man was Makarov's grandson. Huge headphones sat atop blonde spikes, his feet kicked up onto his desk, papers scattered everywhere. His nameplate read Laxus Dreyar, but he didn't look anything like Makarov. Noticing the scowl on his face, Lucy shuddered before speaking up.
"Makarov sent me over so you could guide me to my desk. I'll be sharing a space with someone named Natsu." She bounced on the balls of her feet, steadily becoming more nervous as his scowl deepened. He looked at her for a minute before standing up, silently walking towards her, brushing right past her and leaving. Assuming he was leading her to her desk, she hurriedly followed him out, closing the door behind her.
Quickly memorizing her surroundings, Lucy followed the large blonde until they reached the elevator. He pressed the button and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes, pretending she didn't exist. She could hear some sort of heavy metal coming out of his headphones. She quickly dismissed the idea of talking to him, he probably wouldn't hear her, and if he did, something told her he would just pretend he didn't.
When the elevator door opened with a ding, Laxus pulled out one headphone to talk to her.
"Go up one floor, and the third door on your right will bring you to assflame's room." he studied her for a minute before adding on, "Natsu's kind of stupid, so don't let him ruin your stuff. Also, if he does anything, let me know. I'd love a good excuse to beat him up."
Stepping into the elevator, Lucy could only nod. This guy couldn't really be that bad, could he? As soon as the door closed, there was an arm slung around her shoulder. Looking at the person who had decided she would be a good armrest, she was stunned.
"Cana?!" the blonde shouted in surprise, quickly covering her mouth. The brunette winced before replying.
"No need to scream, geesh." Cana took another swig from her flask, wincing slightly as it went down. She shook it up and asked. "You want any? I heard you're working with Natsu." Her eyebrows wiggled as she shook her flask around.
"No thanks, I've had a hard enough day, no need to spice it up just yet." Cana shrugged before screwing on her lid, shoving the flask under her leather jacket.
"Where've you been, the last time I saw you you were puking into a pot at that one guy's party." Cana giggled as Lucy shuddered. Back in highschool, Cana had convinced her to go to this wild end of the year party, and it hadn't ended so well for the blonde. She couldn't remember much of it, but she did recall the pot incident.
"I've been in the exact same place up until recently, you were the one who decided to go 'travel the world' with your boyfriend."
"Hey, I invited you to come along, I don't know why you didn't. It was, as he puts it, wild." Cana giggled, leaning back against the elevator wall.
Just as Lucy was about to reply, the elevator stopped, doors opening to show another hallway. Lucy stepped out of the elevator, turning to wave to Cana as the doors started to close.
"Good luck with Natsu!" Cana yelled as the doors closed. Shaking her head, Lucy turned right and headed down the hallway. She wondered why everyone was warning her about Natsu, surely he couldn't be that bad?
When she reached the third door, she stopped, dumbfounded. What grown man put dragon stickers on his door? Deciding to ignore the childlike stickers, she rapped on the door. She waited a few seconds, and when she didn't hear a reply, she decided to go ahead and walk in.
Opening the door, the first thing she noticed was the mess. It wasn't bad, but there were some old styrofoam cups laying on the floor, and the guys desk had some loose papers scattered across it. Looking around, she saw where she would, apparently, be working. There was a brand new desk sitting on the clean half of the room, and she even had a nametag which read Lucy Heartfilia.
As she made her way across the room, she noticed something weird. Natsu had no pictures in on his desk. Looking around, she noticed that he didn't even have anything on the walls. Deciding not to think too much about the blandness of the room, she turned around to get another look at her desk, and saw something magnificent. Sitting on a small stand in the corner, was a simple, white coffee pot, with styrofoam cups stacked next to it.
Rushing across the room, mentally thanking whoever her mysterious partner was, she opened the drawer under the coffee pot, and stopped. Instead of finding the precious coffee containers like she had expected, the only thing in the drawer was an empty box where they were supposed to be. Rapidly rummaging through the drawer underneath, she sighed when all she found was more empty containers.
Trudging back to her desk, she sat down and put her chin in her hands. Staring at the dark green walls, she sighed. Her day had been a rollercoaster, and she could only hope that when her partner came back, he wouldn't be as bad as everyone made him out to be. For Cana to warn her about someone was saying a lot. Back in highschool, Cana had been the party queen. With her rich dad out of town all the time, it was pretty easy for her to throw some crazy parties. Not being much of a party person herself, Lucy usually didn't attend, but when she did it usually didn't turn out well.
Hearing a click, she spun around in her chair, and was completely shocked at what, or rather who, had opened the door.
It was the pink haired burglar from the night before, holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee, mouth slack as he stared at her.