Nalu Week 2020

Note

Natsu was having a very off day.

It started off with him not being hungry when he woke up, which should've told him that the world was ending, but then he accidentally skipped his morning work out. He'd just walked right out the door, completely forgetting about it.

Which meant that he got to work super early, way before his first patient. The entire place was eerily empty when he arrived.

He decided to catch up on paperwork until it was time for his first appointment, but found that he couldn't concentrate. He read the same page four times without registering a single word.

The distraction continued to haunt him through every single one of his appointments, no matter what he tried, which Natsu hated himself for. His patients were supposed to come first, always.

But this was the last straw.

There was no way in hell that he could keep letting the snowball punch him like this during their daily match.

Natsu landed flat on his back with Gray overlooking him.

"Come on Flame Breath," the stripper was taunting him, "Normally I love kicking your ass, but it's like you aren't even trying today."

"I don't need to try to beat you," Natsu huffed as he stood back up, "That's how weak you are Popsicle Breath."

Gray scoffed, "Yeah right. That's why you haven't landed one hit yet."

Natsu glared at him before launching himself into another attack. It was, admittedly, the best effort he had made yet, but Gray had been sparring with him for years. In just a few minutes, Gray had gotten through his defenses once again and Natsu was sprawled out on the floor.

"Dude, what's with you today?!"

If only he knew, the whole day had been messed up!

Natsu groaned and sat back up, slowly removing his sparring gear. Gray's eyebrows went up at that. Natsu was always the last person to be done with a fight, never the first.

Exchanging a look with Jellal who had been watching the fight nearby, they both wore matching expressions of confusion, waiting as Natsu packed up his stuff without a word.

Jellal cleared his throat hesitantly. He wasn't the greatest of friends with Natsu and Gray, but had been making more of an effort since they were so close to his girlfriend Erza, hence why he had joined them after work.

"Something on your mind?" he asked him now.

"It's nothing." he mumbled, zipping up his bag, "Just a weird day."

"Weird day?" Gray snorted, "Since when do you have weird days?"

"Since now Ice Prick." Natsu retorted automatically, but not really putting any effort into it.

"Does it have anything to do with that girl I saw you with yesterday?" Jellal asked, preemptively cutting Gray off.

It didn't really work as Gray snorted again in disbelief, "Natsu? With a girl? Yeah right."

Jellal shrugged, "That's what I saw."

Throughout this, Natsu was silent, thinking over all of his words. Could that be it? Was the Weirdo's abrupt departure messing him up? How would he know, he'd never dated before! It took him forever just to work up enough nerve to ask her out to begin with! No, the only reason she could've left their date like that was if she didn't like him!

Gray was still having trouble believing it, "Only a girl with massive brain damage would agree to go out with Natsu. Chances were any girl you saw him with was a patient or just a friend."

"I don't think you're giving either of them enough credit."

"Jellal, trust me. The only time we'll ever catch Natsu on a date is if the girl didn't know it was a date."

Natsu's eyes widened as he heard Gray's comment. Was that possible? Could Lucy have not known it was a date? He'd asked her out to eat, so it being a date was implied, right? Or did you have to actually say the word?

Erg, this was all so confusing! Punching people was so much easier.

Levy, one of the two people who knew how he felt, had told him to wait before asking her out, so he did. And yesterday he'd finally worked up the courage to do so, only to have her run away from him!

Hearing his friends continue to bicker about his supposed love life behind him, Natsu groaned to himself. He was out of his depth here and needed help, but those two bozos were the last people he'd ask. Gray had been stalked by Juvia until he'd agreed to go out with her and Erza had gotten so fed up with Jellal talking things slowly that she'd literally pushed him against the wall and forced her tongue down his throat. Their problems fixed themselves. Natsu needed someone better and smarter than that.

He needed Levy.

Grabbing his stuff and racing out of the room, he headed up to the third floor where her office was. If he was lucky, she was working late again.

Jellal and Gray watched him go without any sort of goodbye.

Smirking, Jellal turned to Gray, "50 jewels says it was a date."

"You're on."

Levy sighed, looking at him in a mix of exasperation and pity, "Natsu, I told you to give her time."

"It's been three months!"

"She's gone through a lot though." Levy said softly, "Only she can decide if she's ready to date."

Natsu groaned, hanging his head in his hands, "So what do I do?"

"Honestly? I'd start with an apology." Levy said bluntly, putting the last of her papers away. That was something Natsu had always liked about her; Levy never beat around the bush with him.

"An apology?" he asked.

Levy nodded, "She's just started to heal from everything she's been through and then you sprung a date on her. I'd say an apology is a good place to start."

Natsu was silent, thinking it over. He knew Levy was right, but how was he supposed to apologize to the blonde woman who had captivated his thoughts? Seriously, not a single day had gone by without him thinking of her.

He didn't remember her phone number, despite her telling him flat out the day he had accidentally called her. Showing up at her office was out. One, he'd never get in and two, she'd think that he was stalking her again. The same could be said for waiting as she finished Erza's class the next day.

Levy answered for him, slapping a pen and legal pad down in front of him. Looking at her in confusion, she simply stated, "Write it all down and I'll give it to her."

A grateful smile stretched across his face. Levy just smirked at him. Natsu picked up the pen, thinking for a moment before beginning to write.

It took about a week for the note to finally get to Lucy. Levy's original plan was to pass it onto her at Erza's class (the Titania insisted every female take it no matter what) but Lucy had called ahead, claiming a stomach bug.

So Levy thought she'd just drop it off at her office. No one would let her in though and she couldn't even find that strange pink haired maid that almost always hovered over the CEO's shoulder.

Then, two days later, she ran into Lucy by accident on the street. But, like an idiot, she didn't have Natsu's note with her.

Levy just had to admit defeat and held onto the note until Lucy's appointment on Thursday. Levy was actually very proud of herself for not reading it. It had been very tempting, especially after her husband had started making jokes about 'the Salamander writing a love note'. The curiosity was killing her, the ultimate test of self control for a nosy bookworm and word queen such as herself.

But it finally happened. At the end of Lucy's appointment, Levy was finally able to plop down the note and tell her it was probably best to read it in private.

Lucy was confused, but took her advice, rushing to her office as fast as she could. Telling Virgo that she needed a few minutes, Lucy practically tore the yellow paper apart as she unfolded it, eager to see what was so important.

It took a few minutes for her to decipher the chicken scratch that was smushed together, but when she did, she just gasped.

'Hey there Weirdo,

Please don't throw this away. Just….just read.

I'm sorry I freaked you out the other day. I don't know why you left the restaurant like you did, but I guess I did something wrong. I wouldn't know, I've never been on a date before. Did you know it was a date? I sure hope you knew, otherwise I'm making a huge fool outta myself.

Look, whatever I did, I'm sorry. Maybe I shoulda actually told ya I liked you first? Look, I'm no good at this stuff and I don't know when it happened, but I started liking you. Maybe it's because you aren't afraid of me even though we had a really...rocky start or because you didn't show any pity when you learned about Zeref and Igneel. Hey, it could just be because you are perhaps the prettiest woman I think I've ever seen. I don't know. But I'm nervous around you and my palms get all sweaty and I just wanna see you all the time and make you laugh. You know I've never seen you laugh? Or happy?

NOT THAT I'M WATCHING YOU OR ANYTHING!

I just….sort of noticed….Ah, I'm messing this up! Levy told me to give you time, and maybe I jumped the gun, so, whenever you're ready, I'd like to repeat our date.

Minus the 'you running away' bit.

If you want to.

Not gonna force you. At all, promise.

Ugh, just let me know, ok?

-Natsu

AKA: The Idiot'

Professor: Little shorter for this one, but I hope you don't mind. I had a little trouble with the ending on this one, but overall I enjoyed it, so hopefully all of you will too. Please review and remember to check out MorriganFae and ShanaHollows, who are also participating in Nalu Week and have been super supportive through all of this.