In a poorer part of the city where there are three story buildings clustered together, is a dirty dingy alleyway. Trash and dumpsters clutter the alleyway making it hard to pass by, with the occasional light flicker above doors. Not a place where anyone would want to walk alone.
The first door on the left side of the alleyway is old and rusted, behind which leads to a one room apartment. An apartment the size of two closets put together and a tiny bathroom.
Upon opening the door and to the right, is the kitchen, with old chipped yellow floor tiles, a stove missing all but one burner, one counter with burn marks imbedded in the top, a dripping sink and sputtering refrigerator. Open shelves over the counter have a couple cans of soup, bowl and plate.
The bathroom is next to the kitchen towards the back, in the same condition as the kitchen, the floor tiles are chipped, the sink drips and is missing the hot water handle, the toilet is clean but has hard-water stains, and the shower is old lime green chipped tile.
To the left of the front door is a rickety kitchen table with two chairs and behind the table is just enough space for a twin sized bed across from the bathroom door.
Sitting at the table is a young, blonde haired, brown eyed girl still in her school uniform doing her homework.
With a concentrated look on her face, tapping her pencil eraser on her lips, she figures out the Math equation and writes her answer. Sitting back with a sigh, she yawns and tidies her school work into her backpack for the next morning. Standing and bringing her backpack to the front door, she puts it on the floor to grab in the morning. Deciding to check the food bowl for the stray cats outside before getting her supper, she opens the door...
...and immediately steps back inside after seeing movement to her left. Keeping the door cracked to look through, she sees a group of seven people around one person. She must have come out just after they had stepped into the alleyway.
Squinting her eyes to get a better look at who was in the group, her eyes widen...they were all wearing the same school uniform as her! It was a group of boys around another boy who was bent at the waist with his hands on his knees and coughing.
"What the fuck man!"
"You're not so special!"
"Damn Elites! Think they can get away with anything!"
"Guys! Lets do this quick before his clan comes!"
"R..R..Right!"
One of the boys in the circle takes something from his pocket and a small pop sound is heard.
"Hurry up!"
"Ok! Ok!"
The boy takes what he has in his hand and splashes it in the face of the boy in the middle.
"Alright lets go!"
The boys all take off except for the boy who was targeted. He is standing there coughing and struggling to breathe.
The girl watching this whole scene, waits until the other boys are gone before coming out.
Now that she is out in the open, she is able to see what the boy looks like. Athletic build and wild pink hair. There is only one boy she can think of in the school who has that pink hair and that is Natsu Dragneel!
She rushes forward and recoils from the scent of a very strong perfume. Coughing herself, she grabs him by the wrist and pulls him as fast as she can into her apartment. Heading towards the bathroom she pushes him in and starts taking his jacket off.
Natsu slaps her hands away as he keeps coughing and trying to use the bottom of his shirt to wipe the perfume from his face.
She turns and starts the shower "Come on, give me the jacket so it doesn't get soaked! We need to get that perfume off!"
Natsu nods and takes the jacket off and drops it while she searches his pants pockets for anything that can't get wet. Finding a wallet she takes it out and sets it on the back of the toilet.
"Shoes! Shoes!"
Natsu toes his shoes off and she shoves him into the shower. She grabs the shower head and turns the water on. Pushing between his shoulder blades to have him bend over, she then sprays his face.
"Here, I have some unscented soap, keep your eyes closed and I'll wash your face."
She turns the shower off to save his pants from getting too wet. After squirting some soap on her hand and rubbing her hands together she gently rubs his face. She moves her hands up into his hair making sure to rub the soap in really good. She can't believe she is running her hands through the hair of one of the most dangerous and notorious boys in the entire school!
"Ok, I'm going to rinse the soap off."
Taking the shower head, she has him bend over and starts rinsing his hair. Natsu brings his hands up and runs them through his hair to help remove the soap.
"I'm sorry you're all wet but I figured it was the fastest way for you to be able to breathe. I've heard that your nose is sensitive."
Natsu gives one last cough as he stands up and taking his wet shirt off brings it to his face to blow his nose, he then drops it down onto the shower floor. He puts his hands on the shower wall to lean and takes a deep breath. He opens his eyes and looks at her, she has never been this close before and can see that his eyes are green with slit pupils.
His voice is rough when he says"Who are you?"
"I'm Lucy."
Natsu closes his eyes and his head drops a bit. Lucy puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Hey. Are you ok?"
Natsu shakes his head. Lucy turns from him and moves his jacket and shoes from in front of the toilet. Putting the toilet seat cover down she turns back to Natsu and helps him out of the shower to sit.
When he sits he leans forward and puts his head in his hands.
"Gods I'm dizzy. Damn perfume."
Lucy grabs a towel from a shelf over the toilet and starts to dry him off. Natsu moves his hands to his knees and to let her dry his hair.
"There, I've got you as dry as I can. Let me see if I have a shirt big enough for you and you can lay down."
Lucy turns to walk out of the bathroom and over to a bureau shoved against the wall next to the bed. Grabbing a large black t-shirt from one of the draws she walks back over to him.
"Here, this should be big enough for you."
Natsu takes the shirt and puts it on. Steading Natsu so he can get up, she helps him over to her bed. He sits and leans sideways to plop his face into Lucy's pillow.
Lucy leans down to lift his legs onto the bed, noticing she forgot about his socks, she takes them off and sets them on the floor. Covering him up she takes a step back and looks at the boy in her bed and shakes her head. Not believing that he is here in her home.
She picks up the socks to put in the bathroom to dry and tidies the bathroom. Walking back into the kitchen she makes her soup for dinner.
It's dark and quiet when Natsu wakes up. Blinking his eyes open he looks up at an unfamiliar water stained ceiling. Turning his head he can make out the outline of a doorway. Looking around the room he sees a decrepit kitchen and a uneven table.
What was he doing here?
The last he remembered was getting ambushed by a group of students from the human side of his school. They must have thought he would be tired and it would be easier.
He snorted, a scowl on his face, The only reason they got the drop on me is because I was distracted.
His eyes wander to the floor and he sees a blob stretched out in front of the door frame. Squinting in the low light, he can make out blonde hair coming from a pile blankets.
Now remembering what had transpired earlier in the evening he knows it's the girl that helped him. He takes a deep breath now that his nose is clear of the perfume.
He is hit with an overwhelmingly warm and comfortable aroma. An aroma he could sink into and never leave. A much stronger aroma from the one he has been smelling faintly all week that has been driving him insane of finding the source!
He pulls the covers back and swings his feet over the side of the bed. Getting up and crouching down to get a better look at the girl on the floor, he takes another sniff as he crawls forward. Still crouched he steps over her to get a better look. Not able to help himself he leans within an inch of her head and breaths in. Opening his eyes he swears softly and retreats back.
What is he doing?!
Taking a look at her face he sees long lashes, a small nose, and pink lips.
Wow, she's cute. His eyes widen. Where did that thought come from?! Shaking his head to banish the thought, he takes a better look around the room.
It's sparsely furnished with just a kitchen table and two chairs in the middle of the room, the bed he just got up from and a bureau with the top draw missing. A dump essentially with how bad it looks. It should have been condemned.
Determined to get away from the girl, he turns and looks into the room behind him. Seeing it's the bathroom and looking in sees his shirt and sock's hanging over the curtain rod. His jacket is also on a hanger next to his damp clothes. Getting up, he walks into the bathroom to collect his clothes. When he gets closer he can smell the perfume coming from his jacket. He grimaces and covers his nose.
"Egh, man...my jacket is ruined." He whispers.
Still covering his nose he uses one hand to grab his shirt and socks. Deciding to just leave his jacket behind because it's a lost cause.
Realizing that he needs his phone, he puts the wet clothes on the sink and reaches to find his phone in the pocket of his jacket. Shoving the phone in a pocket of his pants he then grabs the wet clothes and spotting his wallet on the back of the toilet grabs that too. Quickly turning around he walks back into the kitchen.
Looking around for his shoes he sees them by the front door. Shoving them on his feet he then takes his phone out of his pocket to check the time. 3:25 am and a message from his dad.
Where are you? At least let me know if you aren't coming back tonight.
Seeing that the message came at 10:15 pm he quickly types a reply.
Sorry lost track of time
Putting his phone back in his pocket he reaches for the door and turns the deadbolt and moves the chain. Looking at the doorknob he pauses for a moment and looks over to the blonde girl.
Shaking his head and making a scoff, he removes his hand from the doorknob, moves the chain back into place, and re-locks the deadbolt. Taking his phone back out of his pocket he sends another message to his dad.
I'll be back in the morning before school.
Kicking his shoes off by the door, he goes back to the table to set his wet clothes down.
Looking back to the girl, he moves closer and kneels down. He pulls the blanket off of her and leans down to put his arm under her back. Then finding the back of her knees puts his arm under to lift her up. Lucy makes a snuffle noise and turns her head into his shoulder.
Stilling to make sure she is still deep asleep, he steps over the blankets and places her in the bed then covers her up. Reaching slowly over to her face he brushes a strand of hair away.
Turning around to the blanket she was sleeping on, he lays down in her spot. Bringing the blanket to his nose he takes a deep breath in of her scent left behind. Freezing in place his eyes widen as he realizes what he had just done. Never had he ever done anything like that for anyone and yet he had done it for this girl.
Sighing, Natsu settles in for the rest of the long morning till she wakes up.
How anyone could not have a lock on the door handle...
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
The alarm goes off at 6:30. Lucy's hand comes out from under the covers to turn off the alarm.
She grumbles, not thrilled with having to get up and face another day at school.
With a gasp, she bolts up in the bed remembering that she helped out Natsu yesterday! He was in the bed! How did she get here!?
"Yo. Forget about me?"
Lucy looks up from where she was looking at the floor to her kitchen where his voice came from. There is Natsu lounging in one of her chairs facing her. His arms are crossed and he has an annoyed look on his face.
"I don't know how you can live in a dump like this and NOT have a lock on your doorknob. The deadbolt and chain are good but what happens when you leave your apartment for the day? Anybody could try to get in!"
Lucy's eyes go wide, shocked that he is concerned about how she locks her door.
"I haven't had any problem before?"
Natsu scoffs. "Are you up for the day now? I need to leave for school."
"Ah...yeah...I'm up. I have to get ready for school too."
Lucy gets up out of bed and gets her uniform that is neatly folded on her bureau. She walks into the bathroom and closes the curtain obscuring the view inside. A few minutes later she walks out and sees that Natsu hasn't moved from his chair.
Eyeing her up and down Natsu notices that her uniform is the same colors as his.
"You go to my school."
"Yeah, I'm not in the same part of the school as you though. I'm on the human side."
"And you wouldn't have seen me in the cafeteria, I usually eat in the library courtyard. Nobody notices me there. Nobody notices me at all really..."
Lucy walks nervously into the kitchen and opens the only drawer for a large thin plastic bag. Natsu turns and watches, not taking his eyes off her.
"You can use this to take your jacket home in."
She walks by him back into the bathroom and puts his jacket into the bag. Walking back out of the bathroom she walks up to Natsu and hands him the bag.
Natsu stands up, mechanically taking the bag, still staring at Lucy intently.
"Soooooo it was nice to meet you Natsu."
Lucy sticks her hand out for him to shake.
Natsu, still looking into her eyes reaches out and grabs her hand. A zing goes up his arm.
Lucy shakes and then lets go. Stepping around him, she opens the door and stands aside so he can walk out.
Natsu's are drops to his side and blinks. He turns to face the door and starts walking.
He stops by Lucy says"Uh...thanks...I'll...see you around?"
"Probably not, we're in opposite parts of the school..."
"Right."
He walks out the door and down the steps.
Shutting the door behind him, Lucy stands for a moment thinking about the bizarre experience. Shaking her head to herself, she dismisses the experience sure that it will never happen again.
A shoji door is pushed to the side revealing a large room filled with people sitting down at a long table for dinner.
The people in the room are all wearing their formal montsuki kimonos, each persons back having the symbol of what family branch they are in.
"We missed you last night Natsu."
Natsu steps into the room and closes the shoji door behind him. He is in a formal montsuki with a large red dragon on the back. He makes his way over to the voice and takes his seat next to his father whom had spoken.
"Usually you are the first person here and never miss a meal. What reason do you have for us as to why you were missing?"
Natsu looks at his father with a blank face, giving nothing away.
"I was ambushed by some of the humans from my school."
Igneel's eyes widen and gasps could be heard from around the room.
"By who?!"
"Did you recognize them?!"
"What the fuck man! Did you let them beat you up?!"
"Oh Natsu are you ok?!"
"Now everyone settle down...settle down. Natsu knows the rules regarding our interactions with humans. We are not allowed to seriously harm them. I'm sure he has a good reason for not fighting back. Natsu?"
Natsu looked around at his family and smirked.
"It was just a group of weak boys looking to make themselves feel big. They got me by surprise and hit me with a two by four, then got me in the face with perfume."
"Ghihi, you do smell faintly of perfume Salamander. I thought you were trying to be girly!"
"As if Gajeel!"
"You did good Natsu, you made the right choice and up held the respect of the family. I am glad you are not seriously hurt. Now!...LET'S EAT!"
Igneel claps his hands and plates of food were brought out from the kitchen and brought to the table. So much food was brought out that the table made a groaning sound from the weight. Everyone cheers and starts their conversations back up and happily grabs their food. Everyone knows that Dragon hybrids are known for having a large appetite.
Throughout the dinner Natsu has a frown on his face and is focused on eating his food. His parents share concerned looks as this was uncharacteristic of their son. Deciding to leave him alone with his thoughts, they continue eating their dinner.