A week.
A week of agonizing pains and curses and wonders of 'is it too early to call her?'
Natsu Dragneel spent the past week trying to crutch himself here and there while also battling his own little mental fights. Thinking of Lucy drove him crazy. He always picked up his phone to write something down to send her a text but always ended up backing out of it. He did that at least seven times a day before throwing his phone someplace else and crying about it for an hour, at most.
He didn't want to seem pushy or weird but he wanted to see her again. He wanted to feel that soft gentle touch that came from her and that feeling of complete when he watched how her entire face crinkled up when she laughed.
That was all he saw when he closed his eyes and whatever he thought of when he was doing whatever he had to do.
He even got over her when they separated—well he thought he did at least. When he saw her beautiful self at that hospital, he felt the air escape his lungs and he didn't know what was right and what was wrong.
All he knew was that the girl he loved was standing right there and she was in his grasp again.
Why'd he ever let her go? Because of long distance? He felt like an idiot and she was probably in another relationship with somebody else and that made him feel angry.
He didn't want anyone else to have her. She was his and always has been and that would never change.
It shouldn't have changed.
"Why do you look constipated?" Gray asked when he walked in seconds later. "You need to take a shit or what?"
"No," he answered, shaking his head. "just angry at myself."
"Not gonna even ask," he mumbled as he picked up his keys and tossed them in the air before catching them again. "I'm going to head out." He jerked his thumb towards the exit making the male look at his fellow band mate.
"Where are you going?"
"Oh, I have a lunch date with Lucy. I promised her I would buy her lunch so we're going to—"
In matter of seconds, Natsu was in front of Gray, clutching the front of his shirt as he stared into the eyes of his rival.
"You're what? Going out with Lucy?"
It almost sounded like a dare for him to repeat himself, the bass player feeling cold sweats starting to feel as he felt the iron grip on his collar and the menacing glare coming from his best friend. But he didn't want to look like a wuss so he smirked and nervously laughed, shoving the hand of the male away.
"What? Jealous?"
"What do you think you're doing going out with my girl?"
"First of all," Gray took a step back to have room to dodge a punch if it ever came. "she's not yours anymore."
"She's mine!" He barked. "Always has been and always will be!"
"And second of all," he ignored Natsu. "you don't control who Lucy can see. Besides, you still have a couple of more days before you're fully healed so you can't even try to do shit or you'll fuck up your foot, again." He snickered as he quickly dodged the hands of the male. "See ya, loser!" He cackled out as he slammed the door in the face of the rosy-haired singer who simply glared at the door.
If he had super powers, he was sure he would have burned holes in it and that bastard, Gray.
How dare he try and take away Lucy from him? Even though he was just trying to be nice and buy lunch for their childhood friend, it pissed him off.
That should be him, not Gray.
"Fuck," he ran his fingers through his hair as he looked at his foot. "goddamn it, Gray. "
—X—
"This feel so nostalgic," Lucy giggled as she walked beside the famous bassist, the two walking down the streets of the city. "it felt like ages since we've done this!" She looked up at the male who wore a dark shade of glasses as he smiled down at her, casually walking in public. "Is it okay for you to be in public? Won't you get noticed?"
"Not really," he shrugged. "but I don't really care."
"Will I be in the news?" She gasped, looking up at him in wide eyes as he smiled.
"Maybe."
"Will I get hate-mail?"
"Probably so don't read them or anything cause I don't want you getting upset."
"Will people start shipping us?" She giggled.
"Probably." He smirked.
"What's our ship name, Gray?"
"I dunno," he shrugged making her frown. "what?"
"Let's think of one! Something cute!"
"Why?" He laughed making her laugh with him, the two grinning so wide their cheeks could hurt.
"Because! It would be nice—what if they label us with an ugly ship name? I would be upset." She shook her head and huffed making Gray roll his eyes.
He placed his large hand on top of her golden head and smiled down at her. "You're so weird, Lucy. You never change."
"I'm not weird!"
"You sure?"
"Yeah!" She pouted, crossing her arms across her chest. "You and Natsu always said I was so weird that I actually started to believe it!" She cried out making him laugh out loud. "Stop, it's not funny!"
"I remember," he took in a gasp of air. "you cried because Natsu started to call you weird and then," he wiped a tear away. "and then you kicked him in the balls!" He cackled pretty loudly, tears rushing down his cheeks. "Oh man—that was seriously one of the best days of my life!"
"I—it wasn't funny! I felt super bad!" Lucy blushed, her eyes wide. "I couldn't talk to him for a week!"
"I know, you and Natsu." He sighed, shaking his head back and forth.
"Speaking of that idiot, how is his foot?"
"Oh y'know... limping around and stuff," he waved it off as he remembered the look of death Natsu gave him an hour ago when he told him where he was headed to. He actually looked kind of scary back then and if it wasn't for his man dignity, he would have totally cried about it.
But man, did it feel good to have something Natsu didn't. Especially his hot ex-girlfriend who he dumped right on graduation day.
"Well that's good. I was wondering how he was doing because—"She froze in her spot when her ringtone started to go off.
The couple stopped in the middle of the sidewalk as Lucy pulled her phone out, pressing the answer button to press it against her ear while giving Gray an apologetic smile.
"Yes, hello?" She spoke, carefully listening to her fellow nurse on the other side. "Really? Oh, well, I'm on my way right now so don't worry," she glanced up at Gray who furrowed his brows at her. "yeah, uh-huh... see you!" She quickly ended the call, thrusting her phone back into her purse. "Sorry Gray, I have to end this so short. I'm expected at the hospital right now—apparently I'm needed." She sighed making the male frown.
"Already? It's only been forty minutes."
"I know, I'm sorry. We can catch up another day where I have a day off, yeah?"
"Fine," he huffed making her give him an apologetic smile. "but you're buying next time!"
"Of course!" She giggled as the two started to go in the opposite direction, walking back to where the hospital was located couple of blocks away. "Good thing we didn't go too far—the nurses would have had my ass in a platter if I was too far away!" She said, gasping as soon as she said so. "Speaking of my nurses—they all think you're a stud." She winked, nudging him in the side making him roll his eyes and smile slightly.
"Who doesn't think I'm hot?"
"Me."
"Shut up, you probably have a huge life-sized cardboard cutout of me in your house somewhere." He smirked at her direction making her gasp.
"How'd you know?"
Nudging the nurse back as the two walked back into the large busy hospital, Gray dropped her off at the front desk where the nurses stopped to give the bassist a good long look. He tried to ignore it as he was used to all the stares and such but it was so awkward to the point where Lucy looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Thanks, Gray." She rounded the counter to give him a large warm hug. "Nice seeing you, tell everyone I say hi, alright?"
"Sure thing," he murmured as he pulled away to flash a wide smile down at her. He placed his hand on top of her head to ruffle her golden hair, a squeal spilling out of her mouth.
"Gray!"
"Have fun taking care of sick people!" He quickly walked away before she beat him up like she always did when he touched her hair.
Once he left, the questions went flying and the nurses surrounded her in a furry.
"Isn't that Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail?"
"Are you two dating?"
"How do you know him?"
"Did you guys just go on a date?"
"You are so lucky!"
"Guys, guys," Lucy raised her hand up towards them as she indicated for them to stop talking. "Gray and I are just friends."
"Yeah, that's what they always say!"
"I'm serious!" She said as she started to pull her hair up in a pony tail. "I've known him since we were kids and we were just catching up! He's like, a brother to me! No way would I even think of him like that!" She shook her head as she finished her pony tail. "Besides, he wasn't the one who I had eyes for back then." She smirked, grabbing her clipboard to turn away and quickly walk off before another wave of questions were thrown at her.
She looked at the room number she was assigned and quickly made her way there, trying to read the small information that was written down but all that was there was a large big fat: CHECK UP.
It looked as if a kid wrote it and she sighed, coming to the door where she was assigned to.
Giving it a quick knock and waiting five seconds, the blonde entered the room.
But as soon as she took a step inside, her heart dropped and she gasped out loud earning the attention of the patient.
"N—Natsu?!"
"Yo," he put his hand up to wave. "wassup."
"What are you doing here? Is it because of your foot?" Her eyes darted from his face to his foot which seemed perfectly fine as the cast and everything was taken off. "What are you doing here?"
"I had a stomachache." He grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as she slowly made her way to his side while clutching the clipboard against her chest. "Haven't seen you in a while, how are you?"
"I'm good," she offered a meek smile. "you? How's your foot doing?"
"It's good, actually." He moved his foot around a bit to show her proof. "But I think I ate something bad or something—I've been feeling a bit queasy all day."
"It might be the medicine you're taking for your foot," she checked his cords as she looked down at his hand. She adjusted his cords and looked up at him, stopping whatever she was doing when she noticed the scar that was on his neck.
Natsu noticed and looked down, realizing she was looking down at his scar.
"Are you remembering this scar?"
"Yeah..." she mumbled, her eyes piercing through it. "I remember."
Seeing how sad she looked, Natsu grabbed her hand and offered her a wide grin, making her look up at his face.
"Hey, so what's up with me? Am I dying?"
"Don't say that," she scowled as she pulled away to try to look at his record. "you're not dying."
"Are you sure?"
Shooting the male a look, Natsu quickly raised his hands as he didn't want her to kill him for real.
"Alright, alright."
"I think it's your medicine, Natsu. Are you taking it correctly? You probably ate it without eating." She squinted, giving him a hard look making him laugh. "Why are you laughing?"
"You're doing that thing!"
"What thing?"
"That squinting thing when you're mad!" He grinned so wide his cheeks must hurt. "Oh jeez, you're so cute, Luce." He said making Lucy's eyes widen as her heart skipped a beat at the sound of that.
"I'm going to call you Luce! It's our little thing, alright?"
She clutched the side of her arm tightly and bit her lip, trying to push back the memories of him and her. She had to realize that they were older, now and not sixteen and in love.
"Hey, you okay?" He frowned, furrowing his brows as he noticed the look on her face. "You look kind of pale."
"I—I'm fine," she shook her head as she pulled away. "I just, was thinking."
Looking at the backside of the blonde, Natsu knew she was lying but he led it slide as he just watched her do her own thing.
You are so beautiful.
"Anyways, uh, how is your day going?"
"It's great. Gray called me today and asked me to lunch so we had some lunch but I had to cut it short so I can take care of you," she turned back around to give him a look but when she noticed the smirk on his face, her eyes went wide in realization. "you planned this, didn't you?"
"Planned what?" He said innocently making her stare at him, trying to figure him out.
But having to known Natsu for a really long time, she knew he was lying.
"You did!" She cried out making his eyes go wide along with his smile. "Oh I can't believe you! Why'd you do that? Are you actually sick?"
"Yes, my stomach actually hurts!"
"So you didn't plan this?"
"Well," he shrugged making her scowl but she couldn't stay mad as she felt her mouth curving to a smile.
"Why'd you do it?"
"I don't know, I guess... I just wanted to see you?" He squeaked, shrugging his shoulders making her furrow her brows and look at him.
"See me? Why didn't you just call or text me, then? Don't you have my number?"
"Yeah, but—"
"But what? If you wanted to see me, you would have texted me sooner... right?"
"Right. But I kind of—"
"Unless you're lying—"
"Let me finish!" He quickly interrupted her as she kept interrupting him. He looked at her to see her mouth shut, allowing him to speak once more as he took in a deep breath. "Alright, the reason why I haven't contacted you sooner and why Gray got to you before me was because I..." he felt the embarrassment start to choke him. "I just, I don't know," he rubbed the back of his head as he looked away while blushing. "I guess I just didn't know how to approach you."
Staring at the embarrassed male, Lucy furrowed her brows and stared at him to see if he was going to say more but when he didn't, she couldn't help but snort and crack a smile.
Natsu immediately whipped his head to her direction and gave her a look.
"Why are you laughing? I'm serious!"
"What are we, high schoolers? We're not seventeen anymore, Natsu." She took a step towards him to grasp his hand and smile sweetly at the surprised one. "If you want to text me or call me, do it. What's the worst that could happen? Remember... we already went through that 'I'm-too-scared-to-text-first' phase back in high school so leave that there."
"W—well—" he sputtered, feeling the embarrassment bubble up in his chest. "I—I just—it's just—fuck," he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I'm nervous, Lucy. You make me nervous." He looked up at her to look away the second later. "I don't even know why because your presence makes me so comfortable and calm yet I'm so nervous. Like if I say something wrong I'm never going to see you again,"
Lucy couldn't help but have a smug look on her face as she smiled real big, her arms crossed across her chest while she watched the male grow redder by the second and sputter.
"I just feel like I'm in high school all over again and you—and you just—I don't know like, I, uh, just—stop looking at me like that!"
"Natsu," she covered her mouth with the back of her palm, trying to hide her wide grin. "you're so cute."
"I am not cute!" He shouted. "Guys are not cute! You do not call a guy cute! I am manly!"
"Manly," she repeated. "with pink hair?"
"It's salmon!" He stressed, throwing his hands in the air. "You should know this!"
"And you should know that you shouldn't be nervous around me," she leaned in to put her finger in his face. "but you know what you are?"
Glaring at the woman who was mocking him, Natsu grabbed her finger in his large one and pulled it out of his face. "Fine," he growled. "how about dinner then? Tonight." He said making her hum and look in thought. "What? You can't?"
"I don't know," she hummed, looking at the ceiling in thought as she smiled widely. "I might be busy."
"Oh, so you're available for that bastard Gray but once I contact, you're busy." He mumbled under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing," he sighed, waving it off.
"Natsu, I would love to have dinner with you tonight." Lucy spoke up making him look up and look at her smiling face. "I was just joking around when I told you I might be busy."
"Really?" He beamed but quickly realized and cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah, I knew that."
Rolling her eyes, Lucy shook her head at his silliness.
"So, uh, when do you get off?"
"Around seven. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, no problem. I just, uh, I'll pick you up from here or your house—?" He suddenly stood up, completely forgetting about his 'stomach pains' as he started to walk towards the door in a hurry. "Or is that too soon?"
"Natsu—"she was about to warn him but cringed when she watched him trip over one of the cords of the machine. "watch out..."
"Shit, fuck," he hissed out he untangled himself out as he cursed everywhere. "that wasn't supposed to happen."
"Right," she watched him struggle for a bit before standing back up.
"So! I'll call you," he laughed, fumbling with his things. "for real this time. I promise," he said making her eye him in an amused way as he flashed a wide grin before he winked and high-tailed out of there.
All she could hear was his call of, "see you, Luce!" and the stomping of his feet before he actually disappeared down the hallways.
She couldn't believe it but Natsu actually did not change at all. He was still the goofy guy she met long ago and she was glad he didn't change—it would have made things more uncomfortable.
And speaking of him, he finally asked her out! She's been waiting since day one and now a week later, she was having dinner with him.
"Finally," she let out a sigh of relief as she placed her hand on her chest where she felt the thumping of her heart. "you idiot."
notes: I actually wrote the rest of this in school cause it's review day and I am doing nothing.
notes2: hope you all liked this! thanks for all the birthday wishes btw :)
notes3: leave me a lovely review!