Updated: February 25, 2023


Chapter 6: "Love Ya!"

Sitting in a circle inside the main auditorium, students of 3-A who had a role in the play took seriously their script reading with Erza. Each one held a script and read along as they listened to their classmates reading their respective lines. Erza diligently followed and gave notes from time to time, helping the group understand and grasp how the story should go.

"As the fairies received the news from their queen fairy, they all immediately went on a mission to look for assistance from all the brave princes and knights in the earth realm." Mika, a student of 3-A, reads her lines as the narrator, "One of the fairies quickly arrives at one of the palaces of Earth and searches for the prince she knows all too well."

"Prince Edward! Prince Edward!" Levy shouts with a good amount of haste in her voice, "I need to talk to you!" Levy then pauses as she anticipates a throw of line. When a few more seconds passed without anything happening, Levy looked up and searched around to look for Natsu.

"Natsu!" Erza suddenly shouted, making everyone jump at their seat and startling awake the pink-haired student.

"What?!What?!" Natsu screeches as he nearly falls off his chair, "I'm awake!"

Groaning in annoyance, Erza pinches the bridge of her nose as she tries to calm her nerves, but ends up shouting again, "Dragneel! Open your script before I pull your head off!"

Natsu then yelps as he stares at the deadly glare of the redhead, "On it!"

Sighing to herself, Levy looked down at her script again and waited for the pinkette to start. But then Erza instructed her to start again and so she began, "Prince Edward! Prince Edward! I need to talk to you!"

"…" Levy was then met by silence again, making her look away from her script to glance at the pinkette. She then stifles her laughter when she saw how furious Natsu was looking for the page they were in. She was then about to blurt out the page when Lucy suddenly beat her to it.

"31, Natsu!" Lucy then stilled as everyone looked at her. But when Natsu grinned at her, she quickly looked away and nervously looked at her classmates.

Natsu then laughs as he finally finds the correct page and saw his line. He then clears his voice, "Fairy Tiana, what is the matter? You seem to be at haste,"

"Prince Edward! I have news for you and I must seek your help," Levy suddenly answers, well-prepared in the exchange of lines.

"What news is that, fairy? I'm always willing to help," Natsu answers back confidently, earning a satisfied grunt from the redhead.

"A princess has been locked up in the enchanted tower in the fairy world. A sorcerer had taken her as a prisoner and is now running around this realm as her,"

"What—?!"Natsu shouted but was quickly cut off by their director.

"Stop," Erza then looked at Natsu, who was a little baffled at the interruption, "Levy, try saying that line again like you were relaying it with wonder and agitation at the same time. Do you get what I mean?"

"Yeah, sure…" Levy then smiled at the scarlet-haired student.

"As for you, Natsu, don't shout. I mean, you're curious but eager to take on the mission. But since you don't know the princess, you cannot be fired up by any connection,"

"But Lucy's the princess…" Natsu counters with a raised brow, "I think I should show how I would—"

"No," Erza cuts off, "That's different. In the story, you don't know her. What your talking about is real life. So, quit it." Erza then ends the conversation with a stern look at the pinkette before looking back at Levy, "Levy, start that line again with the news,"

"Got it," Levy then looks down at her script and starts.

Without being noticed, hearing Natsu and Erza's brief conversation, Lucy couldn't help but be a little flustered. Of course, Natsu had to express how eager he would have been should Lucy be in trouble. But as Erza said, it is only acceptable in the real world, not in the play. But that's the thing, in the real world, Natsu will furiously help her no matter what, and that's what makes Lucy's heart skip a beat. And she hates it, knowing that Natsu shouldn't. He should be like that to Lisanna, and not to her.

And so, the class continued to do the script reading. Although, there were mishaps from time to time. Sting was called out by Erza as much as she had called on Natsu to do his reading properly. At that point, Erza had noted that the two princes were going to cause her so much headache. Nonetheless, she was satisfied with how the script reading was going.

"I have been stuck in this tower for days, maybe weeks, even months. I have lost count of how long I have been in this tower." Lucy says with ease, emitting the right emotions, making everyone listen intently, "Although, I cannot forget how scary it has been for me to be forced into this tower by that mysterious sorcerer. It could be he or she, but regardless, I know that it intends to harm my people, spread fear and darkness, corrupt the minds of people, and create evil in my world. I must get out of this castle, but I fear that the only way to get out is through the help of the outside world." Lucy then sighs as directed in her notes, "I wonder if my call for help had been heard. I wonder if I'll ever be saved…"

Mika then starts her line, "As princess Ayana cries by her window, a glimmer of light suddenly appears before her. She quickly stops her tears and stood up, reaching out to the light she saw. Soon enough, that light formed into a beautiful creature, making the princess yelp in surprise but be thrilled to see a glimpse of hope."

"Oh dear princess!" another student exclaims, reading her script, "I, a fairy of the woods, have come to tell you that our queen has heard your plea."

"A fairy!" Lucy says, keeping her attention on the script, "You have come to my aid. Will you help me get out of this tower at once?"

"Forgive me, princess. No matter how much I would like to help you now, I believe that my strength as a fairy is not enough. But don't fear, our queen has sent fairies to your world to seek the bravest princes and knights. They shall come soon and they will help you to get out of this horrid tower,"

"I don't need a prince or a knight. Anyone would do, even you, I just need help,"

"Okay, Lucy," Erza then interrupts before another one spoke, "at this point, you will be reaching out a hand to Nida as if you want to hold her. But you will be zapped by the mysterious magic spell surrounding the tower. So, Nida, you will be surprised also by that magic and suddenly you will be scared and feel the urgency of the matter,"

"Alright," Nida nods before Erza encourages her to continue her line, "Princess! Are you alright?!"

"This magic, it's strong and painful..." Lucy then pauses, imagining how she would do the acting, "I believe your right. This magic can hurt you, fairy. I don't wish you harm. Perhaps I shall wait for the help you are telling me. I shall keep faith with you and your queen,"

"I will do my best, princess. I shall warn our queen about this magic and make sure that help will arrive sooner than we expect."

Mika then spoke, "And the fairy flew away, taking her magical glow with her as she disappears before the princess. All the princess could do was silently pray that help will arrive soon."

Everyone was then silent as they turned the page to read the next part. But before anyone could do their lines, Erza stood up and clapped her hands.

"Alright, I think we had enough reading for today," Erza then glimpses at her wristwatch and saw that it was a quarter to seven in the evening. They were already beyond the permitted time to stay at school. "It's 6:45 PM already and the school might reprimand us if we stayed any longer. So, for now, we'll call it a day and we will continue the script reading on Wednesday."

Everyone expressed their agreement and soon started packing their scripts away inside their bags. Erza then looked around the students and added, "I suggest, you finish reading the script so that you'll have the full idea of the story. So that on Wednesday, we can have a better exchange of lines between actors," Erza then turns to look at Natsu and Sting, who were three chairs apart.

"And I certainly mean this to you, Natsu, and Sting. Read the script," Erza then widens her eyes on the two boys, who quickly shivered at the girl's intense stare.

Soon enough, everyone bid each other goodbye and started heading out of the auditorium.


Rushing past the other students walking out of the school premise, Natsu tried to look for a certain blonde girl. He looked at each student he thought would be Lucy but every time he mistook them, he'd apologize before running off. When he almost gave up the thought of finding the blonde, he suddenly spots the familiar backpack of the girl and quickly fastens his pace.

"Luce!" Natsu calls, but the girl didn't stop or turn, "Hey, wait up!"

Soon enough Natsu was by Lucy's side and quickly bumped her. The blonde immediately stumbled to the side, causing her to startle.

"Woah!—Natsu?" Lucy starts with wide eyes as she looks in his direction before looking behind her to see that only a few students were walking in the same direction as them, "Since when—"

"I called you," Natsu interrupts, "Didn't you hear me?"

"Obviously, not," Lucy then rolls her eyes as she fixes her bag over her shoulder, "What was that for?"

Natsu suddenly chuckles as he sees the annoyed look of the blonde, "I was just teasing you. Let's walk home together, like usual,"

Lucy stared at the pinkette for a moment before looking away and putting a little distance between them, "Suit yourself," she mumbles before she starts fidgeting with her fingers while keeping her eyes forward.

Natsu couldn't help himself but pout a little at Lucy's comment as if the blonde didn't like his presence. They had walked home numerous times since middle school, but all of a sudden, their walk home felt awkward and forced to the point Natsu felt uncomfortable as well. He hates that feeling. He has never felt awkward around Lucy, but having this silence between them, Natsu just couldn't bear the sudden growing invisible distance between them.

"Hey," Natsu starts after walking a few more miles away since they got off the train station, "Back there in the auditorium…thanks for the help,"

Lucy finally made regard to him but didn't speak. But given that her attention was on him, Natsu took the chance to keep it like that, "I fell asleep, so, thanks for saving me from Erza," he then chuckles at the thought of being knuckled by the redheaded president.

When Lucy still kept mum, Natsu decided he'll do the talking. So, he cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, "So…we haven't talked for some time now," Natsu then glances at the blonde, but the girl kept her eyes on the street. Sighing internally, Natsu continued, "Ever since we had that weird fight inside the classroom, we barely talked like usual…It's weird, isn't it?"

Lucy took her moment before dropping her resolve to keep quiet, "Sure, it's kinda weird,"

Natsu suddenly breathes out in relief, "Oh, thank god you find it weird too…otherwise, I don't know what's going on with us,"

"But it shouldn't be weird," Lucy suddenly says, making Natsu look at her curiously, "I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise if we lessen our conversation."

"Lessen our conversation?" Natsu repeats, baffled at that thought, "Why would we have to lessen our conversation?"

"I think it would be weirder if…if we kept talking to one another when you're going to date Lisanna," Lucy finally glances at the pinkette, watching his expression turns confused to sour, "Don't you agree?"

"No, I don't agree…" Natsu shook his head, looking away from the blonde. Suddenly, he felt annoyed with that notion, "There's nothing wrong with talking with your best friend…"

Lucy stared at the pinkette, sighing as she wraps her head with the words best friend. "I didn't say we're not going to talk. I just thought that lessening our conversation shouldn't be weird. You have a girl to spend more time with,"

"So?" Natsu muttered, annoyance in his voice, "Just because I'm asking Lisanna out doesn't mean I have to lessen talking to you. I love talking to you,"

Lucy suddenly stops in her tracks, stunned at his words. But she quickly starts walking again before the pinkette even noticed, "Well, you should love talking to Lisanna more than me…"

"What?" Natsu was baffled, shaking his head in confusion. But before he could speak more, Lucy suddenly walks ahead, making him quicken his pace, "Wait, Luce, are you doing this because you're mad at me?"

Lucy raised a brow at the pinkette, "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well—I don't know… ever since Thursday there is this weird tension between us. Like, you're mad at me for something, to the point of deliberately avoiding me,"

"Do I look like I'm avoiding you now?" Lucy counters back.

Natsu then became bashful, knowing that Lucy had a point. But he couldn't shake off the feeling that Lucy was really avoiding him, "No…" he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "But I feel it…I feel like you're mad,"

Lucy glances at the pinkette for a moment before looking away. She then realized that they had arrived at her corner. But she needs to end this tension, as per Natsu. So, she stops walking and sighs, "Okay, Natsu. I'm not mad, but…I'll be honest, there are some misunderstandings,"

"Misunderstanding? About what?"

Lucy bites her lip, unsure of how to explain the situation without being obvious that she's taking a step back from being his best friend after realizing she can't stand the feeling of just being his best friend, "I don't know. Um, maybe you should just focus on Lisanna now, rather than worrying about us…"

"I don't follow, Luce. What do you mean?"

"Forget it. Just trust me, I'm here…as your friend. I'll always be…" Lucy then turns away from the pinkette, feeling her eyes prick with warm tears.

"Wait—" Natsu then reaches out holding Lucy's wrist.

Lucy then looked back at him and smiled, "It's my corner, Natsu. I gotta go,"

Natsu suddenly looks around and was a little surprised that they were already in their neighborhood. It was Lucy's corner, indeed, and this is where they usually part ways. But he didn't want to end this conversation yet.

"Okay…" Natsu then hesitantly drops his hold, "Bye, Luce…"

"Bye, Natsu," Lucy mumbles before turning away and starts heading towards her house.

"Good night!" Natsu adds on, taking a step closer to make sure Lucy heard him. But Lucy didn't stop or turn to return the greeting. He waited for a few more seconds and the blonde was just a house away from her home. But Natsu still tried.

"Love ya, Luce! You know that right?!" the pinkette waited, but Lucy didn't stop, making him give up and turn away to head home.

As Natsu blurted that out, unbeknownst to him, Lucy actually heard him. She wanted to stop right then and there but she was afraid to know if Natsu was standing, waiting for her to look back. She felt anxious to know how Natsu would look at her. As she stopped right in front of their house, Lucy finally turns around to look at her best friend. At that moment, Natsu had already walked and disappeared into the corner.

"You can't just blurt words like that…baka,"


Dragneel Residence

As Natsu reaches his home, he was a little surprised to see that his mother was sitting in the living room watching tv. She was now in her house clothes, meaning that she had arrived earlier from work.

"Tadaima," Natsu greeted lowly as he removed his shoes.

"Okaeri," Grandine greets him as she leans back on the couch to look at him, "How did your date go?"

Natsu suddenly raised a brow at his blue-haired mother, "What date?" he asked.

Wendy suddenly comes out of her room and quickly grins upon seeing her brother, "Okaeri, oni-san. We're you on a date again?"

"Who said I was on a date?" Natsu irately asks, making the two ladies raise a brow at his attitude.

"Well, you usually get home late when you're out with your girlfriend," Wendy tightly smiled at her brother as he walked past her.

"I wasn't on a date," Natsu grumbles then ignores the looks he was getting from his mother and sister, "I was in school doing a script reading for a play," then he dashes off to his room and locked it.

As Natsu disappeared, Wendy just sighs in defeat, knowing that the pinkette would probably lock himself up until dinner. Left with no choice, she walks to their living room instead to watch tv with her parents.

"Hey, dear," Grandine calls to her daughter, who then glanced at her, "Who is Natsu exactly dating? Is it Lucy?"

Wendy looked at her mom with wonder, "Um, no. It's Lisanna…Lisanna Strauss? The girl he brought here last summer?"

"Oh, the white-haired girl…" Grandine slowly nods her head in understanding, "She's pretty,"

"Yeah, she is. She's also nice and caring…" Wendy then looks away and tried to focus on the show. But knowing her mom, she knew, she'd ask more questions.

"I see…" Grandine purses her lips, trying to stop herself from asking. But then curiosity was eating her up, "But why isn't he and Lucy dating? Do you have any guesses?"

Wendy eyed her mother as if her mother had cursed, "Mom? Why would you ask that?"

"Well—I was just wondering." Grandine then shrugs her shoulders, "I mean, Lucy and Natsu are nearly inseparable. So, how did someone else come in between them?"

Wendy had the same sentiment. But she thought, who was she to question it? Just because she's used to Lucy and finds her more suitable for her brother, doesn't mean she had to insist on that. But then again, she knows that Lucy and Natsu had so much history together and couldn't understand why none of them fell for each other.

"Mom, your guess is just as good as mine. I don't know either," Wendy leans down further into the couch, "Maybe we're just assuming things that Natsu-nii and Lucy-nee would end up together…"

"You're right…probably, we're just putting an expectation on them," Grandine then sighs as she tries to watch the show. But when she couldn't focus, she stands up and declares, "I'm prepping dinner, call your brother in 15 minutes,"

"Okay…" Wendy then smiles at her mom before heading out to the kitchen.


Heartfilia's Residence

"Tadaima!" Lucy greets them as she opened the doors to their home and quickly takes off her shoes. Suddenly another blonde woman walks toward her and smiled at her.

"You're finally home." Layla then embraces her daughter as she stood before her, "Had school activities or out with someone?"

"What?" Lucy then tries to hide her embarrassment from her mother's indirect teasing by chuckling, "Mama! I didn't go on dates…" Lucy then walks past their living room and heads immediately to the dining where food was already set up, "We had a script reading for a play. It's for the school festival,"

Layla then chuckles, "Oh, I'm just teasing you. You usually hang out with Natsu when you get home late." Layla then takes her seat.

"Mama, you know it's different now with Natsu. We can't hang out like that anymore. He's courting Lisanna…" Lucy then looks around the dining area and looked for her father, "Where is papa?"

"Oh, he's in his office. Would you please call him? Tell him it's dinner time," Layla sweetly smiles at her daughter. After Lucy had nodded and left, the mother could only sigh as she looks back at the food before her, "I guess I can't tease her with Natsu anymore…"

As Lucy drops her things inside her bedroom, she immediately headed to her father's office and knocked. When she heard an approval, Lucy quickly opened the door and greeted, "Good evening, papa."

"Hi, dear. Just got home?" Jude asks as he looks up from his work before looking back down at his computer.

"Yes, papa. Um, it's dinner time. Mama is calling you downstairs,"

"Right, right…" Jude then abruptly stands up but his hands kept on typing, "I'll be down soon,"

Lucy then nods, although her father wasn't looking, so she replied audibly, "Okay…" She then turns around to leave, but then suddenly, she had this urge to ask her father a question.

Biting her lip, Lucy glances over her shoulder to look at her father, who was still busy typing away on his computer. "Um, papa?" Lucy calls, turning around again to fully face the older man.

"Yes, dear?" Jude asks, still keeping his eyes on the computer while he typed, standing.

"Can I ask you something?" Lucy shyly asks, looking down at her fumbling hands.

"Sure, what is it?" Jude replies without looking back at Lucy.

"Um…in the man's point of view," Lucy starts, which successfully grabs the attention of her father. Jude then raises a brow at her, making Lucy falter for a moment. But she shook her head and continued, "Um…well, my question is…blurting out the words love you—or love ya!" Lucy then pauses seeing the wide eyes of her dad. She then raised her hands in surrender, "I was just wondering, is it typical for boys to say that, like it means nothing?"

"Is there someone I should be worried about?" Jude skeptically asks his daughter as he tried to keep his growing grin from showing. He thought of a certain pink-haired boy, but he wasn't going to ask this, knowing that Lucy will just deny everything. "You do know, that I don't really enjoy talking about boys courting you or anything similar to it,"

Lucy just laughs off her nervousness as she tries to convince her protective father, "No, papa, you don't have to worry about anything. I'm just…genuinely curious. I heard this guy, blurt out those words and…I don't know if it's sincere,"

Jude tilts his head, curious about her story but later on shrugs it off, "Alright…well, in my opinion," Jude then made a final click on his computer before closing it down. He then starts walking towards his daughter, "saying love you or love ya, whatever that is, should mean what it means,"

"So, it can't be spoken like it's some sort of greeting that you just simply throw at someone?" Lucy inquired looking up at her father as they head out of the room.

"Yes. If a guy tells you these words, the extremities of intention may vary." Jude then wraps an arm around Lucy's shoulder, "But nonetheless, saying love you would mean what it means. Not all boys are comfortable saying those words. Because saying those words, means putting your emotion out."

"And boys don't usually show their real emotions," Lucy states, nodding her head in understanding.

"Sadly, yes…" Jude then leans closer to her daughter, "Did a certain boy say that to you?"

Lucy's eyes widen at her father's insinuation, "Of course not, papa. Don't be ridiculous. Like I said, I just heard someone say that," and with that Lucy steps away from her father's hold and quickens her pace. The last thing she wants is for her father to know that she was lying.

As Lucy was far from her father's gaze, she then thought about Natsu and how he had blurted those words out like it was nothing. Sighing to herself and shaking her head, she came to a realization.

I can't keep doing this. I need to end this. I'm will end this, once and for all…

To be continued.


Author's Note:

Hey, Readers!

So, apologies for the late advisory. I have updated this story since chapter 1 and made a little tweaking here and there. If you've read this story and you've seen an update, it's basically because I just made some improvements in the chapters. So, if you will read beyond this chapter, maybe you'll see a little disconnection. But no worries, I'll be reviewing each chapter and improving it.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

MonsterinaCup