They had made it back to the house 2 hours later, taking her stuff upstairs to her new room… right next to Natsu's room. The aroma of Roast pork and vegies engulfed the kitchen. Everyone had settled down eating the food that Lucy had cooked with the help of Natsu "This is soo good!" Natsu drooled as he scoffed down his food, causing everyone to nod and laugh at him in agreement. "Th – thank you" Lucy spoke as a small blush formed across her cheeks. 'She is so cute...' he thought to himself and choked on his thoughts "You're meant to chew and swallow not just straight out swallow" Gajeel said as he took the last mouthful of food that he could muster.
After dinner everyone offered to help Lucy unpack, of course she said yes! The quicker it was done the quicker they could all relax and she wouldn't have to worry about doing it later. Her new bedroom was larger than the one she had just moved out of and all of her stuff fit in perfectly. "Thank you again so much" the guys had put her queen bed together for her "Eh, you're family Lucy, this is what we do for family." Lucy smiled as she flopped backwards onto her bed. As everyone left the room Lucy sat up and quickly grabbed Natsu's hand stopping him from leaving, but before he could turn around, she was hugging him from behind. "What's wrong?" he could feel her body pressed up against him, she felt small compared to him, he was after all like another head taller than her, but she found it comforting. Shaking her slightly side to side "Nothing… I just wanted to say thank you…"
Letting go of him Lucy smiled walking in front of him, grabbing his hand Lucy made him follow her to the theatre room "Let's watch a movie!" Lucy said happily as she opened up the large doors to their basically mini cinema. "What are we watching then?" Lucy placed the dvd of the movie she had chosen into the projector. "Pans Labyrinth" sitting down on one of the soft couches, Natsu sat beside her, enjoying the movie, and laughing inwardly when Lucy covered her eyes when the child eater had eyeballs in his hands chasing Ophelia back to the door 'She's so damn cute...'
At some point during the movie Lucy had fallen asleep her head resting on his lap as the rest of her body curled up in a ball. 'Guess I should put her to bed' Standing up carefully, trying not to wake her up, Natsu wrapped his arms under hear and carried her out of the room, and up the stairs to her bedroom. "Natsu?" Gray walked out of his room with Juvia laying peacefully under the sheets asleep. "What?" he replied softly trying not to wake the sleeping blonde in his arms "What are you doing?" "What do you mean what am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm putting her to bed" looking down at her with a sweat drop when she groaned, Natsu continued walking to her room as Gray closed his door.
Somehow Natsu had managed to open her door and place her under her sheets without waking her, but as he tried to walk away she grabbed his hand and woke up. "Natsu?" sheepishly rubbing her eyes as she sat up "Yeah?" he said softly "Can you stay with me for a bit? You don't have to of course! It's just I'm usually snuggled in with Levy or Erza by now and I think that they are asleep and…" tears spooled in her eyes "You don't want to be alone tonight…" watching her nod, Natsu climbed in beside her under the sheets and pulled her close to his chest as she cried softly into him as she listen to his heart beat "I re – really don't se – e how – ow you are sc – scary." She sobbed. "I just have a soft spot for ya Luce" he said jokingly as he rubbed a hand up and down her back, Lucy quickly found herself asleep with dry tears on her face. Not wanting to wake her, Natsu decided to sleep in her bed tonight… but for some reason he just didn't want to leave her alone either 'Maybe I do have a soft spot for her. Like when we were kids…'
The following morning Lucy awoke, feeling oddly warm and something holding her close. Lifting her head her face was instantly red when she saw Natsu's sleeping face. 'I have to admit… he is pretty handsome after all these years…' one of her hands rested on his chest and her other on entangled with his arm that she was using as a pillow as they slept. Trying to wriggle her way out of his embrace and entanglement, she ended up waking him up, he smiled at her as he stretched his arms and legs, making her smile back. "Sleep well? Gajeel said, neither of the two noticed that he had opened the door, hoping to wake Lucy up to get ready but found both of them, a cheesy smile spread across his face. "It's not what you think!" Lucy accidently shouted causing Gray and Juvia to see what all the commotion was all about. "Oh my…" Juvia spoke covering her eyes. "Juvia! It's not what you think!" Her face grew redder by the second "I asked Natsu to stay and ke – keep me company because I woke up crying a – and everyone was asleep a – a – and I didn't want to wake anyone!" they knew she was telling the truth but it was fun to tease Lucy from time to time. "So Salamander… how was she?" Gajeel asked with a massive grin across his face, Natsu instantly caught onto what the tall dark haired man was doing "She was so loud! I'm surprised none of you heard her!" Lucy froze in embarrassment, her face went from looking at Natsu when he spoke then to Gajeel and Gray when they spoke, denying everything they were saying.
It was the middle of the school day and Lucy was stuck in maths… one of her least favourite subjects… the teacher only explained things one way, and when she asked for him to explain it another way he start yelling at her causing her to yell back, so in the end Lucy just got Levy to explain it to her after school. The bell rang for next period and Lucy packed away her text book and casually walked towards her art class, but she felt he body wobble, feeling weak. Grabbing her head she quickly tried to knock herself out of her state before meeting up with Natsu on the way to next class. 'A lot of people are avoiding him… I guess that's what happens when you're the leader of a feared mafia group' Running up to Natsu she waved "Natsu!" she called his name, causing him to turn around. "How's school for you?" asking as they walked along side by side. "Not as boring as I remember, I guess it's because I know some of the students here are from rivalling and allied gangs. But none are leaders." listening to Natsu Lucy tried to avoid being bumped by incoming students as they walked to their classes, but that didn't work when someone was deliberately trying to bump into her.
As Lucy fell to the ground her art book fell out of her arms. "Watch it blondie." A blonde man with a scar on his face turned around and looked at Lucy on the floor his friend with black hair stopped in his tracks "Bite me asshole" grabbing her art book she saw Natsu's hand extended out to her to help her up. After helping her up Natsu grabbed the blonde man by the collar "How about you apologise to the nice girl" "Natsu Dragneel… Leader of Fairy Tail" "And who the Fuck are you?" slamming the man up against the lockers, Lucy jumped at the loud bang "Just call me Sting…" Natsu grinned when he grabbed the other man's fist as he tried to punch him "And that's Rogue." Twisting the man's wrist so fast Rogue was now flat on the floor. "Apologise to the nice lady…" Looking down at Rogue Natsu saw a symbol he never wanted to see at this school… It was Sabertooth… "Sorry, now let me go!" Sting raised his voice which made Natsu let go.
"C'mon Luce you don't want to be late" Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her behind him, he didn't notice that how harshly he was holding her arm as he walked hurriedly in a blind rage. "Natsu…" She winced, "Natsu… You're hurting me…" Her voice broke him out of his trance and he let go, he looked down at her wrist and his bangs hid his face "I'm sorry Lucy…" Lucy could feel the pain in his words, which made her feel sad. Wrapping her arms around Natsu she hugged him tightly, he was stunned by her actions, but found himself wrapping his arms around her resting his head on top of hers. Feeling that he had calmed down enough, Natsu and Lucy parted ways as she entered her class.
As Natsu entered his classroom, he sat down between Gajeel and Gray. "We need to talk, text the girls and Jellal, tell them to meet us behind the library building, now. "What's this about flame breath?" Gray asked as he mass texted everyone "Its Sabertooth… they are at the school." before Natsu could even stand from his seat, Gajeel and Gray dragged Natsu out of the class to behind the library. Five minutes had passed and Natsu wanted to punch the brick wall, but before he could raise his fist the girls arrived with Jellal running towards them. "About time" Natsu's voice was stern. "What is this about Natsu, what's the emergency?" Erza spoke, they all knew that when he was in this kind of mood, that he was more than capable of living up to his reputation, he was more than capable of murder in this mood.
"Sabertooth is in the school, as far as I can tell it's most likely just the two at the moment, Sting and Rogue. I want to know who they are, who they talk to, what they talk about, and what they are doing here. I want someone outside of school to follow them both keep an eye on them." Natsu couldn't contain his rage anymore he punched the brick wall, cutting his knuckles but not breaking any bones. Levy and Juvia flinched at his actions. "I will get Lily and Happy on it." Gajeel spoke pulling out his phone before walking away from the group.
By the time that they had finished talking and setting everything up it was lunchtime, they decided to meet Lucy where she could usually be found, it was the schools forest like garden that was usually deserted because it was in the very corner of the school grounds. Natsu followed everyone else seeming he didn't know where Lucy would actually be. "So why do you two go come here Erza, Jellal?" with his hands at the back of his head he continued following the group. "You gotta be joking right? Didn't Makarov tell you?" hearing Erza sigh he knew he had forgotten something. "This is a special type of school, it's from grade 8 till grade 12 but! That's just that building you lot came out of before, there is a university block on the other side of the school, which is where Jellal and I attend. The reason it is like this is because this school and university is usually for mafia member's, but normals come here too, usually if their family come from a background of dealing with different mafia groups… dumbass. Now change the topic I can see Lucy."
The moment she heard footsteps Lucy looked up seeing the whole gang, a wide smile spread across her face as she waved to them all. "Lu – chan!" Levy practically tackled Lucy to the ground in a giant bear hug. Which made them both laugh, "I was worried when you didn't come back to class Levy!" Lucy pouted "Sorry Lu…" climbing off of her friend Levy smiled at the blonde "We still have another period of it so I'll be there!" as everyone pulled out their lunches Natsu groaned when he realised he forgot to pack his lunch… his stomach started growling at him which made Lucy giggle "Here." Passing her lunchbox to Natsu, only keeping a punnet of strawberries to herself, she watched as Natsu eyed her sandwich and muesli bar "I'm not very hungry today, and by the way your stomach is growling you forgot to pack your own lunch." Lucy smiled at him with her eyes closed and her head tilted slightly to the side. Natsu took her food and thanked her before eating with everyone else.
'She looks pale…' Natsu watched Lucy closely as she talked among everyone else 'She looks like she's hot…' the slight glisten to her made Natsu worry. But was brought back to reality when the bell for their last classes came. "Lucy… gimmie your phone" confused she grabbed out her phone and passed it to him, and watched as he put his number into her phone. "Done!" stretching quickly he walked Lucy back to her art class before going to his metalwork class. At the end of the school day everyone made their way to the student car park hoping into one of the three different cars. Gajeel Levy, Gray and Juvia in one car, Erza and Jellal in the other and Natsu and Lucy in his own, all making their way home, but Erza and Jellal had stopped at the shops to buy food before heading home.
"Luce…" Natsu's eyes focused on the road but he knew something was wrong "Why did you go to school today?" taking off her vest Lucy turned the ac onto her body "It was a school day, I go to school…" unbuttoning the top buttons to her school shirt enough to get a breeze on her chest but not enough to expose her bra Lucy rubbed her forehead in pain. "You know exactly what I mean Lucy, why did you go to school if youre sick?" stopping at a red traffic light Natsu looked over at Lucy who's body covered in a thin layer of sweat. "I'm fine it's just hot is all" Natsu watched her closely but before think of a comeback, her head fell to the side as she fell unconscious. Watching her body go limp Natsu cursed to himself pulling out his phone dialling Levy. "What's up Natsu, the lights green and you aren't moving!" she joked with him "Get over here, bring Juvia too Lucy's unconscious."