Lucy hopped up the stairs to Natsu's house excitedly, motioning for her father to walk faster. "C'mon, dad, if you don't hurry up then Natsu's gonna think I forgot about him!" Lucy said as she excitedly rocked back and forth on her heels.
School was starting in less than a week, and Natsu and Lucy decided they wanted to get together one last time to play and check which teacher they had, but what was different about this time was that it would be at Natsu's house.
Since Natsu and Lucy met they'd played together many times outside of school, but never once had they done so at Natsu's house. Most of the time they met at a park, which allowed Jude and Igneel to talk and become friends. The friendship between the fathers opened up a new door for Natsu and Lucy, they'd been able to see each other much more than before, and the kids had met multiple times at Lucy's house, but never Natsu's.
"Lucy, I'm pretty sure he'll know we didn't forget." Jude responded with a chuckle, quickening his pace slightly to catch up to his daughter.
"That's because you don't know him like I do, even if we're only a tiny bit late he'll think we forgot!" Lucy called over her shoulder as she ran to the front door, ringing the doorbell somewhere around six times.
A faint "I got it!" was heard from inside- along with many light (but erratic) footsteps -before the door was swung open by Natsu.
"Lucy, look, I lost another tooth!" Natsu yelled excitedly, opening his mouth to reveal a new gap in his teeth.
"Not fair!" Lucy whined as she inspected the little bit of a tooth that was already growing in. "You've already lost six, but I've only lost four.."
Natsu grinned, proudly placing his hands on his hips. "Must be part of my special dragon slayer powers!"
"That isn't how it works, Natsu." Igneel said as he entered the room.
Natsu crossed his arms as he glared back at his father. "You said I'm the first dragon slayer, so I make the rules about them! Come on, Lucy, you're gonna meet Happy now, and then Zeref will be home in a little bit!"
Lucy had never met Natsu's big brother, Zeref, but Natsu talked so much about him that she felt like they were already best friends. According to Natsu's description, Zeref was shorter than other kids his age, quiet, sometimes mean, and really smart (especially when it came to science).
"Happy, I know you don't like new people, but be nice to this one, she's my friend…" Natsu spoke softly as they entered his bedroom, slowly reaching under his bed when a faint mew was heard.
When Natsu stood, he was cradling a small, blue ball of fur in his arms, "Lucy, this is Happy, he's only a year old, so be careful with him…"
Happy removed his head from hiding in Natsu's elbow, looking up at Lucy with the biggest eyes she'd ever seen.
"Why is he blue?" Lucy asked without much thought, her curiosity getting the best of her.
Surprisingly, Natsu smiled in response as he held Happy in a way that showed his stomach was still white. "I dunno, he came back home a few weeks ago with blue fur, and it didn't wash out, we even took him to a cat groomer!"
Lucy took the small cat into her hands, cradling him to her chest as he began to bat at her braids.
"You bring a girl home, and of all things, you show her your cat?"
Lucy turned, eyes locking on a black haired boy she assumed was most likely Zeref judging by Natsu's vague description of his physical appearance. Like Natsu had said, Zeref really wasn't much taller than Lucy, resulting in Zeref looking about nine years old (despite the fact that he was nearly 12).
"You know, I thought I'd be happy when you got back home, Zeref, but because you said that, I'm angry instead!" Natsu said as he crossed his arms, the smile forming on his face betraying his attempt at a glare.
Zeref rolled his eyes in faked irritance as he walked across the room, gently flicking Natsu's ear. "Stupid looks like that are why you've never had friends."
Natsu whipped around angrily, opening his mouth to retort before Zeref turned to greet Lucy.
"Sorry about that, I've never had somebody to tease him in front of before, I'm Zeref, Natsu's older brother, I assume you're Lucy?" Zeref spoke with a gentle voice and a soft smile, doing a complete one-eighty from when he was previously talking with Natsu.
Lucy readjusted the small kitten in her arms as it began to fall asleep, curling into the girl's elbow for more warmth.
Natsu moved to stand in front of Lucy, gently pushing Zeref farther way. "Lucy came here to play, not to listen to you being a jerk!"
Zeref rolled his eyes, pushing past Natsu so he could get to the door. "Yeah, yeah, have fun with your cat, dragon boy."
"Dragon boy?" Lucy asked, noticing how quickly Natsu's face flushed.
"Uh, it's kind of a weird story, you'll probably think it-"
"I love weird stories!" Lucy cut him off, grinning in anticipation.
Natsu laughed awkwardly, his hands habitually beginning to play with the ends of his scarf as he avoided her gaze. "Well, Igneel likes to do these cool fire tricks, so I called him a fire dragon, and I'm his fire dragon slayer, but Zeref kinda makes fun of me for it…"
To Natsu's surprise, Lucy laughed instead of calling him dumb like all the other kids who found out about the dragon nicknames.
"That's not weird, it's funny, and a little cute!" Lucy said with a smile, giggling when Natsu began to blush even more. "If you have a dragon to fight, then I can be the princess that needs to be saved?"
Natsu perked up at that, vigorously nodding his head as a grin took over his features. "Of course, and your brave dragon slayer will save you from the horrible dragon who keeps you there!"
And so the two played for hours, only taking a few breaks for naps and snacking (in that order) until Lucy went home, promising each other to continue their game the next chance they got.
This is like my third time trying to post this, it's four in the morning, and I am exhausted...
If you want more of my fics and random hints about future chapters, my tumblr url is hisokas-glowing-erection (yes, go ahead and laugh).