Chapter 5: Tutor Us
About a month and a half has passed since the incident and Erza has still not gotten over her depression from being banned from the recently opened bakery. Other than that, everything was moving smoothly with Lucy's life.
She had great friends, the holiday's were coming up, and she was acing every single class for end of terms. It was a break period for Lucy at the moment and she happily sat on a bench in the courtyard reading a new book she and Levy had found in the public library.
" Lucy!" Lucy lifted her head from her book and looked around the courtyard. She could've sworn her name was just called. After checking the perimeter with her eyes one last time, she finally shrugged and brought her eyes back down to her book.
" LUCY!" Lucy shot up from her book and glared, looking around the area.
" This better not be some type of a prank." She grumbled to herself. There was a loud rumble ahead of her and she squinted her eyes to get a better look.
There in the distance were two figures dashing straight towards her. An eyebrow rose as she stood up, awaiting the two people coming up to her. On further inspection, the two people were Natsu and Gray.
" Natsu? Gray?" Lucy's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms once they arrived right in front of her. " This better not be some kind of a joke. I'm just getting to the good part of my book." The two boys both shook their head quickly.
" Nah. Will you help us study?" Gray pleaded along side with Natsu. Lucy perked up and her glare was switched with a look of confusion.
" Study? Just have Levy help you."
" We tried but she was so confusing!" Natsu whined while Gray shook his head in agreement.
Lucy sighed and rubbed her temples.
" What do you need to study for?" She asked quietly, not exactly so enthusiastic about helping them out. Natsu and Gray cheered in victory.
" Health." They both roared at once. Lucy plugged her ears, wincing from their close proximity.
" Of course health... You wouldn't know the last thing in health, only destruction." Natsu laughed slightly when he noticed most of that was meant towards him.
" Well... Can we start today after school?" He asked slowly. Lucy looked up in thought before sighing and nodding.
" I guess so, I don't have anything going on. Come to my place after school." She said just as the bell rang for the next class. She turned around and picked up her book that was on the bench before heading off to her next class.
" Thanks Lucy!" The two sang like little angels.
" Sure." She mumbled.
" Why are you following me?" The agitation could be heard in her question as she turned around from her locker to be confronted by the two boy she was to tutor later. They both shrugged.
" We're waitin' on you, ya turtle." Natsu said rather bluntly. Lucy growled at him and slammed her locker shut after taking her bag out.
" Okay, come Gray. We have some tutoring to do." Gray nodded and began to follow her.
" Hey! Whatta bout me!?" Lucy turned her head to Natsu, making him lean back slightly.
" I remember telling you before I was zero tolerance. So I don't want any of your fooling around during precious learning time, okay?" Natsu nodded with a dopey smile, slinging his arm around her shoulder.
" Yeah, yeah." The three soon left the school and headed to Lucy's apartment. Once they got their, Gray gave out a whistle in awe.
" This is a pretty nice place you've got for yourself Lucy." Lucy only simply nodded, grabbing her key out of her bag and unlocking the door. Once they were inside the two men started to wander about her apartment.
" Hey! What do you guys think you're doing? Go wait in the living room, I'm going to get some juice." Gray only shrugged while Natsu grumbled, he was feeling very adventurous at the moment and Lucy just totally ruined the mood.
The two waited rather quietly for once, Gray sat on the couch while Natsu the chair, neither wanting to be caught dead sitting next to each other. Lucy soon entered back in with comfortable clothes on and a tray of three drinks and some cookies.
" Here, It's fruit punch, and come sit on the floor so we're closer to the coffee table, don't worry about bringing a pillow, I have some pads." The two obliged, as soon as they were settled down with their textbooks and papers out, Lucy handed them their drinks.
Natsu greedily reached for a cookie but Lucy whacked it away.
" I'm going to try a method that I use to do with my study partners at my old school. I will quiz you every now and then after I teach you about a certain section, if you get the answer right, you get a reward." Gray seemed cool with it but Natsu only glared at her while he rubbed his throbbing hand.
" Sounds good to me." Gray smiled, crossing his arms. Lucy gave him a smile and then brought out her textbook.
" Okay, take out your books and go to pg.136."
" Thanks for the tutoring Lucy. It helped a lot. I gotta go now, it's getting pretty late, see ya tomorrow." Gray smiled before exiting out her door, Lucy gave him a small smile back as she waved goodbye. When he was out of sight, she closed her door and sighed, walking back in to her living room to see a sleeping Natsu.
" Geez, that Natsu. He was only awake for like two hours before falling asleep. Well, at least Gray will do better in that class." Lucy walked over to the coffee table and watched Natsu's peaceful sleeping state.
' He's actually pretty cute when he's asleep.' Lucy thought to herself, smiling. She crawled over next to Natsu and poked his cheek. He made a weird face and scrunched his nose for a second before relaxing, a little smile coming to his face. Lucy giggled.
" Come on Natsu, it's time to wake up, you need to leave." She said softly as she gently shook his shoulder. Natsu turned his head and murmured something before shifting and laying his head down on her lap. Lucy's body stiffened and her cheeks started to burn.
She tapped his head a few times, trying to stir him from his sleep.
" Natsu. Natsu get up." Her eyebrows twitched, it was almost nine o'clock, she wanted to go to sleep early today and Natsu wasn't exactly helping at the moment. Lucy sighed and leaned her back up against her couch, her tapping on Natsu's head slowly turning into pats.
And then there she was, comforting the man she was trying to wake up as she just let him lay on her lap.
' He must've been exhausted. No surprise from all the sports he's been doing.' She then glanced down at the salmon haired man, actually feeling some pity for him. Lucy sighed.
" Well, I guess a few minutes wouldn't hurt." She told herself as she stroked his head. She just laid there, listening to the even sounds of his breathing and the quiet ticking of her clock. It must've been magic or she was really exhausted because next thing she knew?
She fell asleep too.
Author's note: Hey guys! I know this is sort of a small chapter. I was just really lacking the inspiration for this chapter. And this my friends, is where the nalu of the story begins! :) I hope ya'll are ready. Hope you enjoyed!