Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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Summer Camp (Ch. 5)

After mentioning Plue, Lucy was depressed for a couple of hours, drowning herself in misery. It didn't help that Natsu would not leave her alone; every time she tried to drift away, he would be standing next to her again. Every failed attempt to escape just made her even more uncomfortable. Having the guts to mention Plue to a stranger caught her off guard, but for some reason, she didn't mind. It's not like this happy-go-lucky boy-in-a-man's body was going to befriend her and then suddenly leave her.

Right?

That's what she's always afraid of…and that always seemed to be the case. That was one of the reasons why she didn't want friends. Every time someone walks away, she gets another scar on her heart and it always hurts. If Natsu was going to do the same thing, she didn't want to talk to him anymore.

On a much brighter scale, she learned a lot about him from the float trip, the bus ride back to the camp, and lunch. He was happy-go-lucky (like mentioned before), very childish (but that was actually cute), has a terrible case of motion sickness (she's never seen it that bad), he loves to fight with Gray, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue (she was officially introduced to them by Natsu at lunch), he was carefree, he ate like a pig (literally), he had the biggest smile ever (she loved it; it amazed her how wide it was each time he showed it to her), and he was always happy.

There it was again: everyone was so happy…and Natsu seemed the happiest person alive. There wasn't a moment that she saw him without that grin (except when he was brawling with his frienemies, but even then, you could tell he was happy). It totally made her confused. Why in the world was he so happy? What was the point? And she still wanted to know what the whole scarf ordeal was.

However, when free time hit, she excused herself from the lunchroom to shower in her cabin. After that, she as able to lock herself in there and read for about fifteen minutes before Cana came in, chugging on some more liquor.

"Hey Lucy, Natsu is outside our cabin waiting for you."

She raised her eyebrows, "he is?"

Cana shrugged, "go see for yourself."

Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she sighed. It was good to be away from people, even if it was only for fifteen minutes. Her cabin was the only place Natsu couldn't be around her and she thought she would be able to get off the hook of not celebrating her birthday with him, but apparently not.

There goes something else she learned about him: he had a strong will.

After quickly applying her makeup and pulled at her ponytail to tighten it, Lucy slipped on her flip-flops and opened their cabin door. Sure enough, Natsu was waiting outside.

"Hey!" he flashed her her new favorite smile, "took you long enough! I've been waiting out here forever!"

Knowing he was over exaggerating, Lucy ignored him and questioned, "How'd you know where my cabin is?"

"Lisanna told me."

"Who's Lisanna?"

"Mira and Elfman's little sister. You know, the girl with short white hair. She's in your cabin."

"Oh, her…That's what her name is…"

"So," Natsu smiled mischievously, giving Lucy an icky feeling in her stomach, "are you ready to go have a birthday party?!"

"Ssh!" Lucy hissed, "I told you I don't want anyone to know!"

"No one's out here."

"Cana's inside!"

"The door's shut."

"I don't care!"

Natsu sighed, giving in. He was about to say something until she spoke up.

"No offense, Natsu. I appreciate you doing this for me, but honestly, I don't really want to have a birthday party."

"That's okay," He said. "There's not much you can really do for a birthday party here. There was no cake, at least none that I could find, and it's not like I could run out and buy you something."

"Even if you could, you don't have to get me anything…" Lucy bit her lip, does his words mean no party and she could go back into her cabin?

"However," he said, smiling and Lucy knew she was screwed. "I set up a picnic by the ropes course over there. I brought food-"

"-We just ate, Natsu-"

"-and I brought chocolate."

She raised her eyebrows, "chocolate?"

"Yeah!" He mentally cheered. He found something she liked. It wasn't hard to figure out that she didn't like to talk about herself. And who doesn't like chocolate? "Come on, let's go!"

Grabbing her wrist and running off, Lucy's protests fell on deaf ears as Natsu pulled her to the ropes course where no one was. The boys from their cabin might see them, but that depends on if they were loud.

Sighing, Lucy let him drag her away from her cabin.

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"So, I don't remember Sting and Rogue on the bus back in Magnolia," Lucy said as Natsu pulled her to sit down next to him. "Are they in our youth group?"

"No, they're in Sabertooth, but Gajeel and I go way back with them so we're buddies," he replied with that smile again. "Actually, every single one of us know each other from camping trips in the past. This is basically a family reunion."

"Oh," that made her feel even more left out, but she liked it that way.

"Why?"

"Just curious."

Natsu cleared his throat and pulled something out of his pocket, "Happy Birthday, Lucy!"

Before she could, once again, tell him that she didn't want to celebrate in anyway, she saw what was in his hand.

"A chocolate bar?"

"You lost yours in the barn last night so I figured I'd buy you another one."

"Natsu, you didn't have to do that," Lucy said as she took it and peeled it open.

"I know, but you're my friend and I know you like it so I bought it for you!" He flashed her that smile again.

Lucy blinked. Friend. He just called her his friend. That scared her. "Thank you, Natsu," She broke off a piece for him that he gladly popped into his mouth. She ate her own piece, humming in delight.

"So, tell me about yourself."

The question caught her off guard as she looked at him surprisingly, "W-what?"

"You're kinda mysterious," Natsu admitted, eying her, "you have a strange edge to you nobody else has. I wanna know you."

"Uh…do I have a strange edge in a good way or a bad way?"

"A bad way. You don't smile; you don't laugh and when you do, they're fake. I can see it on her face and I can hear it in your voice."

Lucy remained silent and looked down at her chocolate bar.

"Also, it's in a good way. You're really weird, but that's because you're different than everyone else, and that's not because you don't smile or laugh. You just have this weird way of lighting up whatever room you walk into."

She stared at him, blushing and astonished.

It's true, even Lucy knew she was different and it wasn't because she was a loner. She was always a firm believer in being herself. She didn't like it when people acted cool when it was only to gain friends and popularity. If those people you were trying to impress didn't like you for who you are then they weren't worth it. Not only that, but Lucy knows how everyone thinks and she thinks differently than everyone else, but that was most likely because she was a gifted writer. She called herself weird and she was proud of it…she called herself weird because to her, it meant that she was herself.

How in the world did Natsu figure her out in less than one day?

"What?" He noticed her staring as he popped a strawberry into his mouth.

"N-nothing," she looked away, eating a piece of her chocolate. "It's nothing."

About a minute of silence, Natsu gave the same request: "Tell me about yourself, Lucy."

"Uh…" she scratched the back of her head, "I don't like to talk about myself-oh! You brought strawberries?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

As she reached over and grabbed one, eating it immediately, Natsu smirked. Now he knew something else that she liked. "You like strawberries?"

"Chocolate covered strawberries are the best, but yes, I love strawberries."

Chocolate covered strawberries. He'd have to keep that in mind.

He brought himself back on topic, "why don't you like to talk about yourself?"

She paused before shrugging, "I don't know."

The hesitation told him that she actually know why she didn't, but he wasn't going to push her. If she didn't want to tell him, that's fine. "Okay then. Can you at least tell me about last night? What were you doing in the barn?"

"Um…It's kinda tradition for me to stay up until midnight on my birthday. I've been doing it for a long time now. I sit and watch the view of the stars and when midnight hits, I sing to myself and bite my chocolate bar. If a shooting star goes by, I make a wish."

"Did a shooting star go by last night?"

"Yes."

"What did you wish for?"

She gave him an incredulous look, "I can't tell you. If I do, it won't come true."

He chuckled at her, "fine, fine."

"What were you doing in the barn last night?"

Natsu answered, "I was clearing my head. Gray and Gajeel were on my nerves and I needed to get out."

A few minutes past in silence as Lucy continued to eat strawberry after strawberry which Natsu found amusing, but didn't voice it out loud.

"Can I ask you something?" Lucy suddenly asked, "This has been bugging me since I first saw you."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Why are you wearing that scarf in the middle of the hot summer? You were even wearing it wrapped around your forehead when we were on the float trip."

Natsu smiled at her, "I'll tell you if you tell me something about yourself."

Lucy scowled at him, causing him to smirk. She really wanted to know why he was wearing that scarf…well, one thing about herself couldn't hurt, but nothing that was too personal. Just something simple:

"My favorite color is light pink."

"That doesn't count."

Lucy scowled again. Maybe not that simple. "Of course it doesn't."

He laughed at her.

"Uh…" she tapped her chin as Natsu waited patiently. "I…am the only child in the family."

"I am too and that doesn't count either."

She sighed, "well what exactly do you want me to say?!"

He laughed at her frustration, "I don't know! Just say something you like to do!"

"I like to read."

It was clear that Natsu was thinking whether or not that was good enough, which was putting stress on Lucy. She said something else:

"I play the violin."

That got his attention. He looked surprisingly toward her, "you do?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"No reason, you just don't run into many people who play the violin."

"Does that mean you play?"

"No, I play the guitar."

A moment of silence before Lucy spoke:

"I kept up my end of the deal; why do you wear that scarf?"

Natsu paused and smiled sadly. He didn't like to talk about the story behind his scarf, but wasn't like it was a secret. If he was going to gain her trust, that means he needed to trust her and he could tell she was a trustworthy person.
"My dad made it for me for my tenth birthday. His name was Igneel and he would tell me stories about dragons all the time back then, so he had told me this was made out of dragon scales," he chuckled at the memory and rubbed the threading of his scarf. "Only a month after he gave this to me, he was in a car accident and past away seven years ago…So I've worn it everyday and I've never taken it off since."

Lucy's eyes widened as she apologized profusely, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

"It's okay," he smiled at her, giving Lucy the questions again of why in the world was he so happy, especially after he just told her of his father's death. "Everyone knows so it's not a big deal."

Lucy looked down in silence, "I think it is a big deal actually…"

Natsu looked at her questionably.

"To me, that'd be too personal for anyone to know…I'd have to really trust someone…more than my parents even…because there are some things I don't even trust them enough to say…"

Natsu blinked in astonishment, piecing together the puzzle, but immediately hitting a wall. There was definitely something going on here…

Lucy then sighed and stretched, changing the depressing subject and looking up, "so this is the ropes course, huh? That's a lot higher than I expected."

She stood up and began to walk around it, inspecting the whole thing. Natsu followed her around, still silently and stubbornly refusing to give up on this puzzle.

"Oh, a rock wall?"

"Yeah, you climb to the top and then glide back down," he pointed up at a few ledges sticking out of the wall, "somewhere around there is kinda tricky, but you'll probably make it."

"I'm not athletic."

There's something else he learned about her, but he didn't voice it, "on this side of the wall, a ladder goes up about halfway before you climb the pole. Then you walk across the beam to the other pole there. After they hook you up to that wire up there, you jump off the ledge."

"Jump off?! I have to jump off?!"

"Yup!" Natsu flashed her that smile again. "It's awesome! You'll love it!" The expression on her face was priceless and he found himself doubled over, laughing.

"I am not doing the ropes course! Maybe the rock wall, but not the ropes course!"

"Come on!" Natsu said, "you'll love it! Really! The hardest part is climbing the pole! The rest is easy!"

Lucy groaned, but before she could say anything, something caught her attention and she turned around. "Do I hear…running water?"

"There's a creek over there. We go there for recreation one day, and sometimes during free time."

Speaking of free time, Lucy glanced down at her watch and gasped, "oh my gosh! We're late for Family Group Time! It's five-forty!"

"Stop panicking," Natsu was amused at how weird she was when he got to know her (even if it was only a tiny bit). He chuckled as she hastily began to pick up the picnic blanket and food. "It's only boring family group…no big deal."

"I don't wanna get in trouble!" She exclaimed, "Now come and help me!"

"Fine, fine…" As he helped her clean up, he asked, "what group are you in?"

"Four. You?"

"I'm in five so our meetings can't be far away. Where does your group meet at?"

"The library, in the main hall."

The main hall was all the way across the property. He and Lucy couldn't be farther, unless, of course, they were in the creek.

"My group meets in the game room across the hall so we can go together."

"Okay," she said as began to run.

Natsu called after her as he walked calmly, "Oi, Lucy! We're already late so we might as well take our time!"

She spun around, running backwards, "I don't want to be later than I already am, Natsu! Now hurry up or I'll leave you behind!"

He found himself laughing again as he hurried to check up with her. "This weirdo is funny. I like her."

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11/16/15 – 11/18/16 == the date I wrote this.

-zEllie