Chapter 2: Sabertooth
The music was pumping in Lucy's chest, each vibration of sound moving with each heartbeat. Her eardrums registered the techno beat of the house songs booming from the large speakers within the crowded setting. Gazing at her surroundings, stood her friends she'd known for years, dancing rhythmically with cups in their hands. She vaguely remembered Natsu driving her to the Sabertooth nightclub, but the rest was hazy with only the taste of the vodka on her tongue.
Lucy swayed her hips smoothly to each downbeat and waved her arms above her, allowing her body to move freely. A hand slipped smoothly into hers and began mirroring her dance moves. The blonde slowly peered through her lids to see a small girl with blue hair in front of her. It was her best friend, Levy McGarden.
She was a petite woman adorning a spaghetti-strapped black bodycon dress that hugged her tightly. Her short blue hair was pulled up into a short ponytail with an orange bow and she had a loving grin on her face as she danced up close to Lucy.
A larger figure with a mane of obsidian hair loomed tall behind her, stoic and still, Levy's boyfriend: Gajeel Redfox. A man similarly a part of the Fairy Tail family, but tougher on the exterior. He assumed a hard gaze into the crowd, with a handful of studded piercings illustrated on his sharp face. Beside him, Erza and Cana danced more provocatively, each with a confident aura radiating from them.
Lucy allowed her brown eyes to snap shut as she continued to embrace the pounding music in her chest. She willed her body to flow to the music as she gently let go of her friend's hand and leaned back to back with the small girl, each shaking their bottom halves against the other in unison.
Natsu stood a few feet back, beside Gray. The two weren't as standoffish as Gajeel, allowing themselves to enjoy the music. They jumped and stepped to each beat, with a shit-eating grin consuming both of their faces. The two men were having a silent competition between who could do the best consecutive movements to the EDM song.
A slim figure with flowing curly blue hair stood on the perimeter of the dance circle, clapping her hands at Gray's movement: Juvia Lockser. She had porcelain light skin and was wearing a long green dress that illustrated her curvy figure. A long slit ran up the side exposing her thigh and the black heels. Her eyes were trained at Gray. She continuously cheered his name as he danced off with Natsu, her voice lost to the music.
During Gray's turn, he lost his footing and slowly faltered before correcting himself. Natsu chuckled silently under the music, and Gray glared in return, cursing his jack and coke for distorting his coordination.
Natsu glanced up into the crowd to visually check on his friends. The girls continued to dance in their small group with Gajeel's presence seemingly deterring men from asking one of them to dance.
A hand pounded on Natsu's back, triggering a quick turn around from him. The pinkette was met with a familiar face that wore his signature large grin: Sting Eucliffe.
"How's it going, Natsu?" He hollered over the blaring speakers behind them.
Natsu wore a bright smile to greet his old friend, returning the hard hand pound to the back.
The blonde man was of the same height and structure, dressed in a casual baby-blue button-up and slacks like the rest of the men. His closest friend, Rogue Cheney, was behind him hidden behind long black hair over his face and wearing an all-black outfit. He gave Natsu and Gray a curt nod in greeting, and the two men returned the gesture..
Attempting a conversation with their extreme proximity to the speakers was pointless, so the two Sabertooth men continued forward to greet the rest of the Fairy Tail crew. Sting approached the girls and began greeting Erza. At the same moment, the blonde girl stumbled against his chest and he caught her with his arms to stabilize her.
Natsu peered over as Lucy repeatedly apologized to the man. Her cheeks flushed bright pink from the alcohol in her system. Instead of responding to the awkward interaction, Sting took her hand and smoothly transitioned the bump into dancing. The move worked to turn her worry into a smile, but something about it didn't please the pinkette.
"Can you glare any harder, flame-brain?" Gray hollered right into Natsu's ear.
His eyes shifted over to the dark-haired man who wore a smug look.
"Not glaring," Natsu sneered.
"Yeah okay," Gray mouthed, "if you don't like it, go dance with her yourself."
Natsu stared harder at the two in the distance, deciding not to respond.
Lucy took in the twirl Sting offered her before letting go of his hand with a smile and dancing back towards Levy. Lucy gazed down at her cup that only contained ice and a few cherries with a small pout. She motioned to the blunette, signaling she was going to walk to the bar for another drink.
The blonde held her cup to her chest against her bosom and maneuvered between the jostling bodies crowded in the club. Despite her lack of vision and awareness, she made it to the bar without an excessive amount of stumbling.
Once reaching the counter, she waved at her silver-haired friend, Yukino, gesturing for another drink. Yukino yelled over the music questioning what drink Lucy wanted, but she couldn't hear over the volume and shrugged in response. Yukino gave a small nod before mixing the contents of a long island for the blonde, accepting Lucy's cash in exchange.
As Lucy turned away from the bar with her full cup in hand, an arm caught her across the waist and pulled her in their direction. Lucy attempted to balance her drink as she lost her footing, becoming face to-face with an unknown man. He was considerably older than her, expressed by the abundance of facial lines and wrinkles.
"How about a dance, beautiful?" He asked.
"No, thanks," she replied, attempting to remove her body from his grasp. Instead, his hold tightened as he attempted to pull her body in closer.
Despite the amount of alcohol dancing in her bloodstream, she felt the panic from the situation awaken her to her senses. Lucy's body turned hot in a mixture of anger and terror, as she squirmed and fought against his grasp. Every bone in her body screamed for her to leave his presence. A small sense of helplessness snaked its way up her spine, pulling the voice out of her body.
Suddenly, a large fist slammed into the man's contorted face, shoving him into the human wall of the crowd. Lucy held onto her cup tight as she stumbled backward as her body was freed. Her eyes shifted over to see Natsu holding his knuckles as he stood above the old man, withering in pain. The man slowly gathered himself and stood up to retaliate, a snarl ripping out of his furious face.
Just as he returned an attempt at a punch, his fist was caught by a slender manicured hand. The owner of the hand didn't flinch at the impact, but instead, steadily lowered the failed punch so she could glare directly at the man. Erza's piercing eyes threatened the man to try something again.
The man's expression melted at the sight of Erza's strength overpowering his. He flinched his hand back and scattered through the crowd to escape the confrontation.
Erza's fierce expression switched to concern as she switched to look at Lucy, holding onto the blonde's forearms to question if she was alright. Lucy gave a quick nod, glancing between the redhead and Natsu who stood beside them. The pinkette was visibly still upset by the encounter.
Erza whispered into Natsu's ear briefly before grabbing Lucy's hand, gently, and pulling her towards the exit. The blonde understood the action as a sign to down her drink quickly before they stepped outside to get some air.
Lucy tossed the cup before stepping into the summer breeze at the exit door of the nightclub. Erza walked her over to the curb to sit down and recuperate. That's when the long island took effect and her eyes viewed a scene that looked similar to a television turning off with a zip.
Natsu stood alongside the wall of the nightclub beside Gray and Juvia, continuously gazing through the patrons anticipating a redhead and blonde re-enter the nightclub. Instead, he was faced with the image of Gajeel walking up to him and sticking a thumb out, signaling that Natsu was needed outside.
The pinkette took the cue and navigated through the sweaty and crowded bodies, slowly descending out of the building. The cool breeze hit him sharply. His ears painfully throbbed as the sound dropped with the missing pressure from the speakers. A low hum replaced the music like the world's volume was turned down low in his brain.
The first thing he saw was Erza and Levy leaning over a seated Lucy, rubbing small circles in her revealed back.
"She should get home," Erza mouthed to Natsu, with concern.
Natsu nodded in understanding as he walked around to stand in front of the blonde figure who was hunched over towards the road.
Lucy slowly gazed up to meet his onyx eyes, with an expression that only revealed itself when the young girl was intoxicated. Her eyes were half-lidded and sultry with pouted lips and a quaint blush painted on her cheeks.
"Natsuuu," Lucy cooed, "I'm having so much fun."
She giggled and launched herself forward in an attempt to embrace her friend. Natsu moved quickly to lean down and catch her, raising her up slowly to her feet in order to prevent her from collapsing. He was displeased, to say the least, seeing her this far gone. This meant it was going to be a hassle to return home safely.
"Alright, let's get out of here," Natsu sighed, slinging the blonde over her shoulder.
She let out a slight yelp and giggle as she felt herself fly up, kicking her legs in excitement.
"Yayyy," she exclaimed.
Natsu held onto her butt tightly, ensuring her safety as he balanced her on his shoulder. The two walked towards his truck, with a departing wave to the girls watching from afar. His hand placement prevented the bottom of her dress from revealing her undergarments to everyone passing by.
Natsu unlocked the vehicle and gently sat her down in the passenger seat before securing the seatbelt. The pinkette glanced down along the side of the seat to verify her whole body was safely contained in the truck. Deeming it safe to close the car door, he did so slowly, getting a view of the same sultry face she had been making earlier.
Natsu walked around the back of the truck and situated himself in the driver seat before starting the engine, with a sigh.
"Natsuuuu," Lucy cooed.
He turned his head to face her, seeing that she had shifted her body to lean over the gear shift.
Her hands were resting atop the cup holders, propping her body up, to be visible to the man. Due to the height difference, she was gazing up into his eyes with direct contact. Lucy shifted so her cleavage was in view of the man. The angle made her chest become seconds away from spilling out.
"Do you like me?" She cooed, unexpectedly.
Natsu couldn't hide the annoyance nor the blush etched into his features. He wasn't particularly bothered by her actions or words. No, he was annoyed that this wasn't normal Lucy. He knew she wouldn't enjoy hearing the embarrassing words she was sharing, once she became sober.
"Can you just sit back so we can get the hell out of here," he whined, dodging her question.
Daybreak glistened in through the flowing white curtains of the small apartment. A small breeze flew in under the open window tickling Lucy's nose awake. The young woman raised a pajama-clad arm over her eyes, slowly, to shield herself from the bright. Her eyelids slowly squinted open to view the alit room.
She glanced down and peered at her chest, cozily situated in her button-up pajama top. Lucy looked in confusion, failing to recall the events that led up to her bedtime. Chocolate brown eyes scanned the small studio apartment. The missing piece that caught her attention was an unfamiliar pair of stilettos on the floor beside her laundry hamper.
'They looked like Erza's but there is no reason they'd be in my apartment unless they went out last night. Which they did… But how'd they get home?' Lucy thought silently
Lucy abruptly sat up to piece together her memories of the previous night, squinting her eyes in concentration.
"I remember going to work, and then Cana suggesting clubbing. Then we went to Sabertooth… I don't remember anything else," Lucy sighed to herself.
"Lucy, are you always this loud in the morning?" A young voice called out from her room.
Lucy's eyes flew open to view the source of the mysterious voice in her bedroom. A small figure with messy blue hair and a tired expression, rubbed his eyes awake standing across the room.
"Happy! Why are you here this early?" Lucy hollered in surprise.
"Sheesh, you think she'd be quieter seeing as she kept us up all night." A deeper voice groaned from the couch.
A headful of spiky pink hair peaked up from the top of the couch and turned his tan face to look at both Happy and Lucy. His eyes blinked open with a squint, seemingly waking up from Lucy's words.
"Somebody better tell me what's going on!" Lucy yelled, progressively getting heated.
Happy took a few steps over to the queen-sized bed and sat down with a small plop. He finished rubbing his eyes, innocently and turned to face Lucy.
"You were acting real silly last night," Happy giggled, "you were all over Natsu. He had to pick me up to help get you home safely."
Lucy threw the quilted comforter off her in a single swipe and jumped up. "What do you mean I was all over Natsu?" Her face turned beet red in a second as she awkwardly scrambled around the room in thought.
"Well, you were trying to pull him into bed with you, being really touchy, and asking some funny questions that Natsu wouldn't explain to me." Happy snickered with a hand to his mouth, maintaining eye contact. "But maybe you should change before you get upset."
Lucy's scowl switched to confusion as she glanced down at her outfit. She recalled wearing her pajama top but as she gazed lower, the matching pants to her ensemble were missing and her pink cotton underwear was there instead.
She frantically grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Happy to shield his face, with a yelp, as she scampered away to throw her pants on from her drawers.
"You couldn't have given me pants last night?" She questioned in horror.
"Natsu said you were fighting too much to do so," Happy answered, muffled by the pillow.
The pinkette just squinted his eyes and watched the two interact before lying back down on the couch, uninterested in the conversation.
Lucy continued stomping around the room, angrily processing things. How could she allow herself to do these things?
"We stayed the night to make sure you were safe," Natsu grumbled softly from the opposite side of the couch that was visible to the two.
The blonde halted her pacing and slowly glanced between the young boy who was now sitting up on her bed and the tufts of pink sticking out from the armrest of her sofa. Her anger dissipated at the realization that the two had prioritized her safety in her obvious drunken state over their own plans. That's what mattered most.
She slowly padded over to the couch and glimpsed at Natsu fully.
He was laying his head down on a throw pillow, a small pink blanket draped over his large body. His toned calves and feet poked out the bottom of the blanket, and his bare chest and defined shoulders were feebly covered by the top half. The small smile slipped its way onto Lucy's face as she continued to process their heartfelt actions.
"Next time, put some pants on me," she yelled, switching moods drastically, "And put a shirt on!" She gently kicked Natsu in the chest to startle him awake.
"Jeez," the pinkette groaned, sitting up.
"Yeah, or Lucy is going to keep making funny faces," Happy teased with another snicker.
"Quiet kid or I'm going to come kick you too!" She joked, stomping over for show.
"Natsuuu, Lucy's going to hurt me," Happy whined.
"You bet I will!"
Natsu scratched his head in confusion. What was the big deal?
A/N: This is the end of the intro scene! Next chapter, we'll get into the Fairy Tail crew in college and more independent Natsu and Lucy scenes. I wanted to introduce their dynamic first in this fic so you can understand how things will slowly progress. It will turn into more of a slice of life soon.
Thank you so much for the comment Emma22. Your support and love of the first chapter really motivated me to write and push this one out as soon as possible. I hope my story can bring you as much joy as your feedback brought me!