Authors' notes: I'd like to thank everyone for reading, and if you maybe wanna share your thoughts about the story let me know. Can't say that I own Fairytail. I also don't on Good or bad that belongs to Action Item and I Caught Fire belongs to The Used.
Chapter Seven
Birthday Boy
Lucy's POV:
I woke up to a sweltering heat, it literally felt like I was being burned alive and that was when I knew that Natsu had snuck into my bed yet again. Ever since that night a little over a month ago when I had allowed him too, now I really think he only goes home to shower and change, because he eats all my food and watches my TV, plays my games, and sleeps in my bed. I wanted to Lucy kick his ass out the window, but the look on his face was just so adorably cute when he slept. My eyes widen, wait, what? I did not just think that my best friend was cute, like in a boy is cute way, did I? I sat up and rested myself against the headboard as I looked down at his sleeping face and thought about Natsu. He was reckless, stubborn, violent, sweet, caring, funny, annoying, passionate, destructive, sexy… I covered my mouth with my hand as that word entered my brain, no, I wasn't going to do this, Natsu was my best friend and best friends don't think the other is sexy. I banged my head against the headboard which caused a certain pink haired boy to stir as he asked groggily,
"You okay Luce?" I rolled my eyes at him, I could blare music so loud that the walls would shake and he would still sleep through it, but I hit my head and he wakes up, just when w I needed some alone time to think,
"I thought I kicked you out last night?" He just smiled that smile of his and I felt my stomach flutter, damnit when did that smile start doing this to me? I glared down at my traitor of a stomach as Natsu said,
"You did, but I came in through the window, your bed is way more comfy then mine." Then he was sitting up right next to me as he asked again, "You okay Luce?" I tensed when his arm brushed mine, but just smiled at him as I said,
"Yeah, I'm just hungry." I then heard his stomach let out a growl and laughed, yup he was the same old Natsu. I removed myself from my bed and made my way to the kitchen to make coffee and fix us some food, and that was when I remembered that today, was in fact my pink haired friend's twenty first birthday. I smiled to myself as I got out all the ingredients to make us omelets, and when I say omelets I think I'm over estimating my cooking skill they basically become scrambled eggs with stuff in them. I chopped up ham, and mushrooms for mine and spicy sausage and jalapeños for Natsu's, since the boy loved anything with serious spice, and got to cooking. As soon as I sat the plate and coffee in front of him I smiled as I said,
"Happy birthday." He looked up at me and grinned,
"You remembered." I rolled my eyes,
"How could I forget? You've been reminding me for weeks." He just shrugged as he shoveled his food into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days, which I knew wasn't true because he had raided my fridge last night. As soon as his plate was empty he looked at me with that smile of his and I swear I could feel myself blush as he said,
"Well I didn't need to be reminded repeatedly to know that your birthday is tomorrow." I looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth as I asked,
"How did you know that? I didn't tell you that." He shrugged,
"I looked at your ID." I glared at him as I asked through my teeth,
"What did I tell you about snooping through my things?" Natsu held his hands up in defense,
"Erza made me do it." I arched my eyebrow at him as I asked,
"Erza made you snoop through my things?" He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and reached into his pocket for his lighter with the other, and there it was his nervous tick, open, light, close, repeat. I hated that tick, it drove me crazy, but it seemed to calm him down as he said,
"Not exactly in so many words, but she wanted to know when your birthday was, and if I had asked you, you would have ignored me so I figured I'd make things easier and find out for myself." I sighed as I rubbed the heel of my hand against my forehead,
"Why did she want to know when my birthday was?" Natsu shrugged and eyed my half finished eggs; I slid them over to him, because I was suddenly no longer hungry.
"I think she wanted to plan something special with the girls, since it's your first Fairy Tail birthday, but since I am not a girl I do not know the details." I just nodded, it had been so long since anyone had remembered my birthday let alone celebrate it that I sorta forgot that I had one every year. I looked over and Natsu and saw that he had finished my plate and was now sitting against the couch looking relaxed and full, I smiled to myself as I asked,
"So what are your birthday plans for tonight?" A smile played across his lips as he said,
"Probably drink myself into a nice oblivion." He then looked over at me with a serious look as he asked, "Can you do me a favor today?" I smirked as I gathered our plates and said over my shoulder as I headed to the kitchen,
"How could I say no to the birthday boy?" He leapt off the couch and hugged me from behind and I swear I stopped breathing as he whispered against my neck,
"You're the best Luce. Meet me at the practice room in an hour?" I just nodded and he was gone, I missed his warmth immediately but I just pushed that thought away because people didn't think those thoughts about their friends, especially their best ones.
Natsu's POV:
I couldn't seem to stop myself from climbing into her bed ever since she let me sleep there that one night. Trust me I had tried sleeping in my own bed, but I couldn't, I would just lay awake for hours staring up at my ceiling, but as soon as I crawled in beside Lucy I was out. I rubbed my hands into my hair after I left Lucy's, I didn't understand where these feeling were coming from, I mean I always liked hanging out with her, she was the best, but lately it was different, I noticed myself touching her more, and looking at her when she wasn't paying attention. Every time she said my name, I swear I got goose bumps, and now that I knew what she looked like naked my subconscious was going crazy with all sorts of fantasies. I smacked the side of my head as I muttered to myself,
"You need to stop thinking these things. She's your best friend and friends do think about doing that stuff with each other." I couldn't exactly pin point the exact time that I knew that I loved Lucy; It was just one day she was laughing as Grey and I fought and I thought that she was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen, and I'd been trying to push those thoughts out of my head ever since and failed miserably. I could have avoided her, but in truth when it came to Lucy I was like a moth drawn to a flame, but I knew that she didn't feel the same way about me so I needed to get these thoughts out of my head before I ruined our friendship and it reeked havoc on the band as well. "I need to get her out of my head."
After I was showered and changed I noticed that I was running late to meet the girl that I couldn't get out of my head, so I ran to the guild which housed our practice room to find her sitting on the bench of the piano playing a song that I didn't know so I just stood in the doorway and watched her as she sang,
"Is it good or bad? To fall in love so fast, it heals until it hurts. It's a gift and it's a curse. Oh it's bittersweet, what you do to me. Is it okay, to be scared but still feel safe? Is it good or bad, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it good or bad, yeah, yeah, yeah." I was mesmerized by her voice, and the lyrics really seemed to hit home, "I'm not a saint, no, and I don't claim to be, yeah, love will make you reckless, wild and free, yeah." Her voice picked up the pace a bit as her fingers gently stroked the keys, "What's a heart if it doesn't get used? What's the point? What's the use? So you said show me something new, things I never knew… Like when we were kids, take me somewhere I've never been." I was so caught up in her voice that I began to walk towards her and I bumped into one of the mike stands sending it crashing to the floor. Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin as her hands slammed onto the keys making a god awful sound and she looked over to me where I was picking up said mike stand as I waved shyly and said,
"Hi Luce." Her eyes were wide and her breath was short as she asked,
"How long were you standing there?" I grinned, and set the mike stand back where it belonged,
"Long enough to know you've been hiding songs like that from us." She blushed as she mumbled,
"I wasn't hiding it, it just never came up." I sat beside her and bumped her shoulder with mine as I said,
"You never thought to tell us that you're a musical genius that can not only sing but write epic songs?" She lowered her head so that her blonde bands hid her eyes as she said,
"I was just messing around; it's not like its done or anything." I covered her hand with mine and felt my stomach tighten, but I ignored what touching her did to me as I said,
"Then you'll have to play it for me again when it is done, okay?" She just looked up at me through those bangs and I wanted to kiss her so bad that it actually hurt, but she just smiled that Lucy smile of hers, like she didn't quite believe what I was saying but that it was nice of me to say it. So to avoid the awkward silence that we were now sitting in I asked, "So you ready for the favor?" She just nodded,
"Sure thing, what do you need me to do?" I took a deep breath and said,
"Pretty much what you're doing now, only with a song that I wrote." Her eyes widened,
"Really?" I nodded; we all knew that I hadn't written anything since the accident, but lately all of these words and melodies kept haunting me, so I finally sat down and wrote one of them down, and once it was written I noticed that it pretty much reminded me of how I felt about Lucy, but she wouldn't know that right? I reached into back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, I then sucked in some air as I handed it to her. I watched her unfold it and read the words with the notes, when she was done she looked up at me and asked, "You wrote this?" I nodded and reached for my lighter, open, light, close, repeat. "Natsu, this is amazing." I sighed in relief and asked her for the real favor,
"Will you sing it?" Her eyes widened as she gave me that soft smile of hers, the one that was slowly melting at my resolve of not confessing to her and said,
"I would be honored to sing this." I flashed her a smile as I leapt off the bench and grabbed my guitar, but before I could even play a note I felt my phone begin to vibrate in my jeans pocket, I debated on whether I should answer it or not, but when I saw that it was Erza I knew that I really didn't have a choice, so I accepted the call and placed the phone to my ear as I said,
"Hey Erza." I immediately hear her yell,
"Happy birthday Natsu!" Followed by, "How do you feel about playing a show to celebrate the day of your birth?" I couldn't contain myself, that is what I wanted to do today and Erza being the best, bassist slash manager knew it as I said into the phone,
"Hells yeah." She just laughed at my excitement and said,
"We'll meet at the usual spot at nine, see ya then." I placed my phone back in my pocket and asked Lucy while I bounced on the balls of my feet,
"You think you could have this memorized by tonight?" She just nodded,
"Why?" I grinned,
"We are playing a gig."
Lucy's POV:
As we stood behind a new makeshift stage in yet another abandoned place I couldn't get my nerves under control and it had nothing to do with going on stage and everything to do with a certain birthday boy. I stood there listening to people come in and wait for us to start as I looked at the gift that was in my hands, a gift that I wrapped in red, wrapping paper because it's his favorite color, I rolled my eyes at myself, who was I kidding my entire outfit was based off of red being his favorite color. I looked down at myself and saw, the black leather like leggings I had on that fit me like a second skin and the red silk like tank top that met the top of my pants but showed all of my cleavage. I shook my head of all the thoughts that were going on and walked over to my best friend so that I could give him his present.
Natsu was bouncing up and down as we waited for Erza to give us the signal, but when he saw me walking towards him he stopped bouncing and smiled, and when I saw that smile I felt like my insides were going to catch on fire, then I heard his voice and it was smooth and calm and I completely forgot what I was doing.
"You're not nervous are you Luce?" I shook my head as I remembered what I wanted to say and handed him the package that I was holding as I said,
"I thought you might want to open this before we go on." His obsidian eyes widened as he tore the wrapping paper off letting it drift to the floor without a second thought and looked at his gift with an open mouth and awe in his eyes he then had his arms wrapped around me as he said,
"Luce this is awesome, thank you." I couldn't help but smile back,
"Natsu it's not that big a deal." He pulled away and held me by my shoulders as he said,
"I've never seen a guitar strap so amazing, Luce it's got a red dragon on it!" I chuckled,
"I know that's why I got it for you dragon boy." There was that grin again, the grin that made me want to stand on my tippy toes and kiss him into next week, but before I could give into this desire Erza saved me by informing us that we were on, I sighed in relief as I watched Natsu switch out his guitar straps so that the new one that I got him now hugged his guitar to his body, he then took my hand like he did before we always went on and pulled me onto the stage. Once there we split up and I walked to my mike and talked to the crowd and asked,
"Is everyone fired up?" The shouts were deafening, "So we are here tonight with this surprise show to celebrate a certain band member's birthday, so why don't you all wish Natsu a happy birthday?" I didn't think it was possible but the crowd actually got louder, so I raised my hands to let them know that I had more to say, "And since we all love you so much, we've decided to give you a new song." The cheers that went up for this announcement were earth shattering, I think that they might have even broke the sound barrier, but before I could talk anymore Natsu began to play his song and I counted the beats as I began to lose myself in his playing and then the words that he wrote,
"Seemed to stop my breath. My head on your chest, waiting to cave in. From the bottom of my… Hear your voice again. Could we dim the sun, and wonder where we've been. Maybe you and me so kiss me like you did, my heart stopped beating, such a softer sin." Then Natsu sang just two little words and I swear my skin was on fire,
"I'm melting, I'm melting." And then I was jumping up and down as I sang after him,
"In your eyes, I lost my place, could stay a while. I'm melting in your eyes, like my first time, that I caught fire, just stay with my lay with me now." The rest of the band stopped on that one word, only the sound of Natsu's fingers on the guitar continued as I stopped jumping and pulled the mike closer to my lips, " Never caught my breath, every second I'm without you I'm a mess." The rest of the band came right back in like we've played this song a thousand times and I smiled, "Ever know each other, trust these words are stones, why cuts aren't healing, learning how to love." Then there was Natsu's voice again and I chanced a look at him and his eyes were closed and he looked like a rock god,
"I'm melting, I'm melting." Then I was dancing around to the beat as I sang,
"In your eyes, I lost my place, could stay a while. I'm melting in your eyes, like my first time that I caught fire, just stay with me, lay with me." Then there was Natsu's voice again,
"Stay with me, lay with me now." I cupped the mike lovingly as I crooned on,
"You could stay and watch me fall, and of course I'll ask for help. Just stay with me now. Take my hand, we could take our heads off, stay in bed; just make love that's all. Just stay with me now." When the crowd heard Natsu's voice again they began to sing along with us and I couldn't stop grinning,
"I'm melting, I'm melting."
"In your eyes, I lost my place, could stay a while. I'm melting in your eyes, like my first time that I caught fire, just stay with me, lay with me. In your eyes I lost my place, could stay a while. And I'm melting in your eyes, like my first time that I caught fire, just stay with me, lay with me." And there was Natsu echoing me,
"Stay with me, lay with me. In your eyes." And then it was just me and Gajeel as he kept the beat and I sang in almost a whisper,
"Lets sleep till the sun burns out, I'm melting in your eyes." And there Natsu was,
"I'm melting in your eyes." I smiled more to myself as I sang the last lines of the beautiful song that he wrote,
"Let's sleep till the sun burns out; I'm melting in your eyes…"
To be continued…