The stage rumbled with the stampede of children's feet as the cast of the Thanksgiving play, adorning pilgrim gowns and pumpkin costumes ran on stage.
The kids started singing their opening number.
"Fourth Thursday in November, that is when we must remember, how the Pilgrims would have dieeeeeeeeddddd, if not the friendship of a triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiibbbbeee," they sang.
Approaching behind Lucy in her turkey costume, was another teacher, tall, tan and very handsome.
"Lucy, I wanted to thank you again so much for your help in the play. I know it means a lot to the kids."
"No problem Dan."
"Hey, so... h-how's your boyfriend?"
Lucy took in a sharp breath. It had been a while since someone asked her about Sting, especially since as soon as they broke up, everybody Lucy considered apart of her inner circle knew about it, so there was nobody really to ask her about it. She couldn't blame Dan however. As far as the people at her work knew, she was dating this guy for years, living with him and seemed to be likely to marry him at some point. Or at least, that's what Principle Lyra told her.
"We broke up," she said plainly, followed by an awkward chuckle. "And I mean good riddance."
"Oh..." he seemed taken aback.
"Well what are your plans for Thanksgiving?" Lucy asked, eager to change the topic.
"Well, I always spend it with my grandmother..."
"Aw, that's so nice!"
"...but she just died."
Lucy immediately recoiled. "Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry! That's terrible. When?"
"It was about a month ago," his brown eyes trailed the ground. "Around the time I was writing the music for the play."
"Oooooooooh, no wonder it was so deep," she said, her mind recalling the jarringly existential song in the middle of a play for middle schoolers.
Flashback
'What's it all about?
Is there any point?
Do we start dying the moment we are born?'
As the students stood on stage holding hands and sang jovially to the upbeat music, the words confused Lucy and the other teacher backstage who was a stage manager holding a clipboard.
"Hold on... what?"
End of Flashback
"Well anyway, I'd better start preparing the gourds," he said pulling the top of his costume over his head once more and turning around to head to the dressing room to help the students in the next scene. Lucy watched him jog away for a moment, not being able to suppress the grin on her face as he awkwardly shimmied in his papaya costume. And without thinking, she called him.
"Hey Dan!"
The moment he turned around, a dazzling smile formed on her face.
Bumbling through the door with a grocery bag in hand and a whole, frozen turkey in the other, was Lucy, who eventually let said turkey slip out of her hands and slide on the floor. The guys who were gathered round the TV with beers in hand, turned to her ruckus.
"Hello boys!" She said happily.
Loke facepalmed, Gajeel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and Natsu stood up and faced her with a raised eyebrow.
"Lucy... what is that?"
"It's a turkey!" She chirped, finally managing to get the meat on the table and eager to share her good fortune with her friends. "I went to five different grocery stores and got - what I presume to be - the very last turkey in Fiore!"
"Luce we talked about this," Natsu said patiently. "We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in this loft. We were just gonna watch football, drink beer and go to Best Buy for Black Friday."
"Or as I like to call it - Friday," Gajeel added indignantly.
"It's our thing Lucy," Loke added. "We call it Dudesgiving."
"Look, no matter how many e-mails you send, that's never gonna be a thing," Natsu countered quickly.
"It's real man."
"It's not real."
"It's totally real."
"We're not calling it that."
"Look it's not a big deal," Lucy waved off their disapproval with a dismissive tone herself. "I'm just going to be cooking dinner for you guys... and Dan," she added quickly.
Natsu's eyebrows shot up to beneath his salmon bangs. "What?"
But he wasn't the only roommate surprised.
"What?"
"What?"
"Hmm? What?" Lucy asked, feigning innocence.
Natsu snorted with a confusion expression. Confusion that Lucy could clearly see forming into realization. "Did you just say 'and Dan'? Did you invite somebody named Dan into our home?"
"Yes, I did," Lucy said with a sheepish grin and blush. "I... I finally asked someone out."
Natsu felt like he was being physically blown away with all of these revelations. He simply stared at her wide eyed, as she played shyly with the ends of her hair, genuinely at a loss for words.
With an amused smirk, Loke interjected. "Be honest Lucy... is the turkey named Dan?"
The blonde pouted her lips and narrowed her eyes at his teasing. "No. Dan is a real guy and he teaches at my school, and he's like really, really, really hot!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly, the last part of her sentence about an octave away from a girlish squeal. She bit her bottom lip looking at the ceiling thinking about it.
Natsu couldn't help the grimace that formed on his face.
Dan was always someone Lucy thought was attractive when she first started working at her job, but because of her relationship status, she immediately shut that side of her brain down. Throughout the years, they've been able to build an easygoing comradery, sharing much in common from their eccentric teaching styles, to their sense of humor, even down to their love of spontaneously breaking out in song.
"And for the record Celeste, the turkey is named Hank - Happy Hanksgiving!" She cried throwing her hands in the air.
The First Hanksgiving
Having abandoned their positions on the couch, the guys now sat together in a huddle by the kitchen counter, sipping beer and watching as Lucy scrambled around the kitchen, frantically trying to begin preparations for her grand meal.
"So are we gonna be able to hang around this punk or what?" Gajeel questioned.
As Lucy tied her apron around her waist she glanced at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, is Dan a guy guy... or is he also a teacher?" Gajeel narrowed his eyes.
"Oh no worries! Dan's a total guy's guy, you'll get along great!" The blonde said with a big smile as she began to take vegetables out the fridge.
"Somehow I doubt that..." Gajeel muttered before sipping on his cold one.
"That's such a great plan Luce," Natsu snarked. "Why don't you be the girl that takes the place of his DEAD grandma. That ought to be real romantic."
Lucy shot him a dirty look before she took a bag of carrots to the sink to start peeling them. It was a look that Natsu fully caught, but chose to ignore, instead sipping on his beer miserably.
"This is bad you guys," Gajeel said quietly to the huddle. "He's gonna end up becoming our fifth roommate, I'm telling you."
"It's just a first date man. Relax," Natsu said quickly.
"But you never know! And we don't know him, okay? We've got to figure out whether or not he's the right guy for us. We deserve nothing but happiness," Gajeel gestured amongst the three of them. Loke nodded his head in agreement.
Natsu put his beer down and blinked at him rapidly. "What?"
Just then, Lucy waltzed back in, carrying more bags of produce in tow. "Glad that you guys are enjoying your beers. Just sit back, relax and we'll soon have a great meal."
The boys started doing just that.
After an empty silence of the guys drinking and Lucy not moving, the blonde cleared her throat awkwardly. "Just curious, do any of you, by chance... know how to prepare a turkey? No pressure."
Beer bottles slowly started dropping from mouths as Natsu hung his head low in disbelief and Gajeel stared wide eyed at her.
"Um... for example," Lucy trudged on. "The cookbook says that you need some kind of string to cook a turkey-"
"Trussing string," Loke said reflexively.
"Shut it Celeste," Gajeel scolded quietly.
Lucy's face lit up. "That's a good turkey tip! Got anymore?"
"Here's a tip: Don't cook Thanksgiving dinner for five people in under 14 hours," he said with an indignant expression. "Here's another tip: Don't ask a guy out on a first date on the least sexiest holiday in the western world."
Lucy blinked. This conversation went in the direction she least thought was possible. But now, she was curious.
"What are the most sexy holidays?"
"Easy," Loke jumped right on it. "The Fourth of July, Independence day of course, all of Women's History Month and Christmas."
Lucy nodded her head attentively, soaking in as much of Loke's romantic knowledge as possible, while Gajeel and Natsu looked increasingly confused.
"Thought the fourth of July and independence Day were the same thing-" Natsu muttered but was interrupted by an eager Lucy.
"Will you help me Loke?"
"Absolutely not."
"What if I invited Cana?"
"Don't do it Loke," Natsu added quietly before sipping his beer again. "Beer. Football. Black Friday."
It was too late however, because Lucy had won from the moment she namedropped her best friend. The honey blonde stood up with a growing smile.
"Thanksgiving with Cana..." Lucy said with a smirk.
"I'll do it!"
"Damnit Loke!"
"But I've got to let you know upfront," he said as he approached her. "I've got control issues in the kitchen, so if I'm gonna do this, I'm cooking the whole meal."
"Done."
Lucy agreed quickly as the other two men groaned in the background. She held out her hand with a smile and the two shook on it.
"Lucy and Loke back at it again!" she exclaimed.
"The dream team," he added with a smile.
Eyeing her frozen turkey, the blonde turned to her new head chef with worry.
"That thing's gonna thaw out by tomorrow right?"
The guys looked at the turkey, then looked each other. "What are we, scientists?" Natsu asked.
The Next Day...
Lucy got up early that day to get a head start on her preparations considering she had a lot of catching up to do. She was wearing her favorite 'Ms. Heartfilia's Jam-Packed JAM-boree' shirt along with a velvet flowing skirt. She threw her hair up in a messy high ponytail before heading out in the kitchen to start on her turkey. When the guys all woke up and gathered in the central area, she was holding a thermostat to the turkey, attempting to jam it inside to check it's temperature.
The metal point broke at the hardness of the frozen turkey.
"Hey, would you look at that boys? Turkey's done," Natsu mocked from his spot by the counter. Not long after Lucy got rallied from bed did the boys start rallying up for the day themselves. Right back where they were yesterday by the kitchen counter, were Natsu, Loke and Gajeel.
"What am I gonna do?" Lucy panicked. "Dan's coming in three hours!"
The second turkey-cooking attempt involved Loke and Lucy trying to jam the frozen entrée into the oven wholesale in order to let the oven do the defrosting. The turkey was too big however, and in it's current frozen form, relented no malleability to reshape itself to fit inside the oven. Natsu and Gajeel watched with laughter in the background.
"It's too big!" Lucy cried, as she and Loke pushed. She heaved breathlessly and her face started to turn red. "It... it won't fit..."
Loke turned to the boys with a smirk. "We've all heard this before, am I right gentleman?"
"Jar," Natsu shook his head.
"Low hanging fruit man," Gajeel added, although his struggle to withhold his laughter said otherwise.
One hour Later
"Maybe... if I take off all my clothes and get in bed with it, the heat of my body will thaw it out."
Lucy stared blankly at her still-frozen turkey. All hope gone from her eyes, body moistened with sweat and dignity completely swallowed by her desperation absentmindedly.
"Who even thinks of that?" Natsu asked, eating his potato chips at the spectacle.
"Not gonna lie..." Loke started. "This is turning me on a little bit."
Natsu turned to his friend with a disgusted look. "Gross. It shouldn't."
After a moment of silence, Gajeel stroked his chin, nodding his head.
"Yeah, me too actually," he added nonchalantly, eating some chips himself.
Natsu's eyes bulged out of its sockets as he turned to Gajeel. "WHAT?"
The conversation paused when Cana strolled into the loft. She wore a gray halter top, with black leggings and black heels, and her hair was down and straight, with a clean part on the side.
"Hey guys," she greeted with a smile, before she stopped, noticing Lucy on the floor.
"Cana! Thank God!" Lucy cried from the floor hugging the turkey. "Strip and come down here so you can warm this turkey up with me."
"Oh HELL yeah!" Gajeel said excitedly leaning forward. "You two should do that."
Cana kneeled down to her friend ignoring him. "Lucy, this is a terrible idea," she gently unhooked her friend's arms from around the turkey.
About a moment later, the five of them stood outside the washing room as they watched the dryer tumble the frozen turkey in cycles, steadily generating heat and causing a really loud, concerning tumbling sound.
"I uh... I put it on permanent press," Lucy said quietly.
"Good, so now you don't have to iron it," Natsu replied absentmindedly.
Ding-dong!
Lucy snapped out of her daze at the sound of the doorbell. "Oh no! He's here early! How do I look guys?"
The four of them looked at her before Loke softly spoke up. "It's better if you don't know..."
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Lucy sprinted to the door trying to fix her skirt and tuck away stray strands of hair before opening it. She was greeted by a smiling Dan wearing a suit and red tie, holding a case for his violin. His appearance made her feel tragically underdressed.
"Hi!"
"Hey!"
The gang slowly entered the living room to get a good look at him.
"Come on in," Lucy said, closing the door after he entered. "Everybody, this is Dan!" She said excitedly.
In response, the gang smiled and greeted him in a chorus of different salutations.
"Welcome to our home," Lucy said with a giggle, standing next to him. The grating feeling that was gnawing at Natsu's psyche yesterday afternoon, suddenly returned with a vengeance of a thousand moons in that moment. He couldn't dwell on it too long before Lucy started to sing.
"It ain't so quirky, to eat a lot of turkey, on a Thanksgiving Day-ay-ay..."
Her best friend and roommates all stared at her as an awkward silence ensued.
And then, Dan started to sing.
"My belly's wanting something, a pie made out of pumpkin, in every gobble gobble way-ay-ay..."
When he was done, the two of them put their backs to one another and posed, before breaking out into a fit of giggles, one of them even snorting.
Lucy looked doe-eyed at him as he did with her, both of them giddy at the fact that either of them remembered the song from an old Thanksgiving play put on by their school long ago, essentially finishing each others' sentences.
Natsu looked disgustedly at the two of them as a realization hit him.
"Dear God, there's two of them."
After Dan was seated and settled in, Lucy speed walked to the fridge, grabbing a cold one and passing it to him.
"Oh, thank you."
"So I'm gonna go freshen up," she stated as she headed down the hallway. "And I'll be right back!"
She wasn't gone for long though, as she quickly doubled back to the kitchen. "Oh! I forgot to tell you - Dan brought his violin, and with a little coaxing, he might just fiddle with the 'ole horse hairs!"
Dan laughed hardily at her joke. "Horse hairs," he repeated as his laughter calmed down. "But guys - only if you want to be enchanted."
Natsu rolled his eyes. "I just want to watch the game," he grumbled to Gajeel.
His comment went far from unnoticed by everyone, but nobody in that room was more mortified than Lucy.
"Hey Natsu?" Lucy said loudly, smiling at him sweetly. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
When the pair got into her bedroom, Lucy closed the door behind her friend and immediately let him have it.
"Natsu, I need you to not do that thing that you always do!"
"What thing? I don't do a thing."
"Yes! Yes, you do! You get all grumpy and mean and you say nasty things and then you make that meanie turtle face."
Oddly enough, Natsu fixated on the fact that he was deemed to make a 'meanie turtle face'. Something about the term that he just found to be cute, but then, after a moment, he finally snapped back to reality.
"I do not make a turtle face!"
"Yes, you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Look, that is not the point!" she insisted.
"Please Natsu! No pranks, or practical jokes or snide remarks today okay? The only time I ever see him is at school and I really want to impress him tonight okay? Please... he's... he's the first guy that I've liked since Sting and I really want to make a good impression today so... please... just help me out."
She pleaded with him with chestnut brown eyes, circling underneath gently upward turned eyebrows.
Natsu felt something pinch in his heart. He felt for her. He knew exactly what it was like trying to date again after a major heartbreak. How scary it can be to put yourself out there for someone else with the fear of being rejected, or hurt again. How much courage it all took. How brave she was.
After a moment's long stare down between the two, Natsu finally sighed, relenting.
"Alright," he said. "I'll help you."
The blonde's face immediately lit up with a 100 watt smile. "Really?" She began jumping up and down, clapping her hands together excitedly.
"Butt bump!' She yelled sticking out her rear end for Natsu to reciprocate with his own.
Natsu stared blankly at her awkwardly angled caboose with arms folded, and then back at her.
"I'm not helping you if you do that."
Lucy quickly reigned her excitement in. "Fair enough."
Back in the living room, nondescript radio music played mindlessly from the TV as Loke and Cana stood in the kitchen handling food, Gajeel lounged on the couch finished his bag of potato chips and Dan seated by the kitchen counter. Not too long after, Dan approached Gajeel and the couch.
"Can I sit here?" he asked, before Gajeel gestured for him to do so.
The professional football player chewed on his potato chips loudly as the chorus of the music video playing on TV got louder and louder.
'Ayeeeeeee! Ooooooh! Ayeeeeeee! Ooooooh!'
Other than that, there was an awkward silence.
"Guy roommates..." Dan suddenly stated in an attempt to kickstart a conversation. "Three guys... it's... it's intimidating, you know? It's intimidating coming into that arena. Its hard to really get to know people. It's like Goldilocks and the three bears. But hey, I bet you're the bear who's juuuust right, if you know what I mean."
Gajeel narrowed his eyes, finally tearing his eyes away from the TV to give him an incredulous look. Immediately picking up on his blunder, Dan shied away from eye contact with the scary older man and looked down. "It was a teacher joke... I'm sorry."
"Alright buddy, I'm just gonna stop you while you're ahead. Just so I can get to know you a little better, we're gonna play a little word association game."
"Oh, fun!"
"Now, I'm gonna say something and you're gonna say the first thing that comes to your mind then-'
"Kazoo."
Gajeel blinked.
"... okay, but we haven't even started yet."
"Oh okay... but I'm gonna stick with kazoo."
Gajeel blinked at him again.
"Aaaaaalright, well um... 'boundaries'."
"Important."
"'Other people's stuff'..."
"Private."
Gajeel nodded impressed.
"How about, loud, early morning sex?"
"Well great work if you can get some," Dan said with an elbow nudge. He then pulled out a kazoo from the inner pocket of his suit and blew on it.
Gajeel nodded his head slowly, still trying to figure out if he was pleased by this guest or confused.
"Hey Dan!" Natsu cried happily as he walked back into the living room. Hopefully he was loud enough for Lucy to hear.
"Hey Natsuvius!"
"Wow, Natsuvius?" the pinkette muttered under his breath. "Anyway, what are you guys doing?"
"Oh you know, just guys chilling, playing word association games," Dan said, leaning back into the chair and raising the glass that Lucy gave him. "Drinking pumpkin ales."
"You sure that's not just beer?"
"No, its a pumpkin ale," Dan corrected. "This one has more to do with the fermentation process and such..."
As Dan droned on about his beverage, Natsu had to fight back the urge to reply back with a sarcastic comment, even though this was a perfect moment for one. If it was one thing that Natsu hated more than a stickler, was a smart ass.
"Hey do you wanna watch the football game with the Dragons?"
"Ah yes!" Dan cried. "The mighty, mighty Dragons... of... Detroit..." he finished uncertainly.
Natsu felt a vein throb in the back of his head. "The Dragons are from Magnolia... my hometown."
Dan's mouth fell agape as he stared awkwardly at Natsu who appeared visibly vexed.
Dan stopped caring however, when Lucy reemerged from her bedroom.
Adorned in a flowy red sundress with puffed out sleeves, a box cut collar and tied up straps from behind came the blonde. She wore black flats on her feet, with her hair in a thick French braid draped over her right shoulder. She wore a bit more makeup than usual, with a slightly noticeable blush, mascara, a cat-eye styled eyeliner and to top it all off, red lipstick. As icing on top of the cake, she wore a red rose in her hair from behind her ear. All of the red really complimented her ivory skin, and Dan couldn't help but gawk.
She shyly looked away at Dan's blatant staring at her.
"Whatcha gobbling 'bout turkeys?"
Dan and Lucy couldn't help their wheezy laugh at the running joke that Natsu swore only the two of them found funny.
About an hour later...
The sounds of the turkey tumbling in apartment 4-D's dryer remained strong as Cana and Loke were struggling to make significant headway on the rest of the meal preparations.
"All in all, anyone who tells you that the future of gravy is nitrogen based, is cooking with blinders on Cana," Loke smugly finished his lecture.
"Uh huh," the model replied absentmindedly as she emptied a colander of string beans into a silver mixing bowl. She then went on to start cracking the shells of a bowl of peanuts, by sticking her hands in it and crushing as many of the shells in the grips of her fingertips as possible.
When Loke noticed what she was doing, he was knocked right out of his train of thought. "What is...? Are you...?"
He cleared his throat and gathered his words.
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Uh... I washed them before I came here...?" she responded cautiously.
"Do you know how many surfaces you've touched since you've washed your hands? How many germy, grimy dirt contaminated surfaces?!" He was about to have a conniption.
"I'll wash 'em when I'm done," she said continuing to crush the nuts.
"Okay, no. See, can you just... can you just stop? Cause now the entire bowl of nuts has been compromised." He yanked the bowl from under her hands, and unceremoniously dumped its contents into the trash.
Taken back by this different side of him, Cana's jaw dropped.
"Hey! It's not like I'm contagious you know! What, do you run around washing your hands ten times a day?"
"Look don't worry about me Alberona," he stated. "If I need to, I can get my hands dirty. I can even get dirty all over. You happy?" he then went back to aggressively chopping onions.
Cana slowly walked over to him, eyes never leaving his for a second. "Would you eat... this filthy walnut?" she asked, presenting one of the nuts still left in her hands after Loke's freakout.
He looked at it, and then cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah of course," he answered weakly.
"Then open your mouth."
She got even closer.
"Open your mouth Celeste," she said before trying to force feed the item into Loke's mouth which he swiftly evaded, grabbed out of her hand, threw in the garbage with the others, and rushed to the sink to start furiously scrubbing his hands with hot water, soap and bleach.
Cana let out a surprised chortle as she watched his franticness. 'I can't believe it,' she thought. He's such a germaphobe.'
Loke took in her amused expression with a grimace.
"You beautiful savage."
On the TV in the living room, a score sheet appeared on screen chronicling the progress of the Dragons' game as football commentators talked in the background.
"Oh, intermission," Dan said reaching for the remote. "Cool."
"No, it's just halftime," Natsu quickly protested.
"No," Dan rebutted. "It's parade time," he said with a click, changing the channel to one where a huge turkey parade float was being driven down a street. Lucy, who was latched to Dan's left arm and leaning on his shoulder, squealed in delight.
"This was grandma's favorite..." Dan started solemnly.
With that, Lucy slowly detached herself from him, sitting upright and staring at his faraway gaze.
"I mean, we used to love watching the parade together. And I mean, even though she knew it was the same robot turkey every year, she found joy in that constance."
Lucy reached over and rubbed small circles on his back. Gajeel's face grew somber too.
Dan reached in his suit pocket again for his phone and opened it to a picture of his grandma as his home screen. "There she is," he said to Lucy.
"Oh, she's so beautiful," Lucy said softly.
Dan smiled looking at the picture too. "We used to get into the funniest arm wrestling matches..."
Lucy giggled softly as she rubbed his arm.
Gajeel scooted closer to Dan, pulling out his phone. "Hey, can I show you something?"
He went to his gallery and scrolled through dozens of pictures until he found the one he was looking for and put it on full display. In the picture, a darker skinned older gentleman with crooked teeth and a full white afro smiled weakly at the camera.
"This is my grandpa. He... died last year."
Dan patted Gajeel's back sympathetically. "I'm sorry for your loss man."
Lucy straightened up to look at him too. Even she didn't know this story.
"Thanks Dan," the man said sincerely.
Lucy smiled warmly at Gajeel finally opening up to Dan, and Natsu couldn't help but smile at it too. Redfox continued to scroll through his gallery.
"This picture right here, is when he tried to quit drinking," he showed it to Dan excitedly. Dan smiled in amusement. "And this picture right, here, is when we tried to get him to stop cursing - a bad idea for everybody by the way."
Dan laughed out loud.
"Oh! This was the first time we tried frozen yogurt!" Gajeel said gleefully, at a picture of himself, his mom and grandpa at Toby's Frozen Yogurt. "And man did he hate it!" Gajeel finished with a laugh.
Dan fully wrapped an arm around Gajeel's shoulders and smiled gently at him. The merriment in Gajeel's eyes reliving good memories soon faded into melancholy the more he stared at the pictures.
"What was his name?" Dan asked softly.
"His name was Nelson," Gajeel said softly. "He was basically my father figure since my actual father never raised me," Gajeel finished sadly.
Natsu stared at the ground solemnly. He knew this story all too well. Gajeel's dad, Metalicana, went missing about 20 years ago without saying a word to anybody, (not Gajeel's mom or Gajeel himself) only leaving a flimsy note to his brother, Igneel, to take care of his family for him. Noone's heard from him since.
"Hey Loke!" Lucy called, breaking the tension. "How's it going in there?"
"Well, I'm all out of freaking nuts," he grumbled. Cana, who Loke insisted wear big, rubber gloves if she were to stay in the kitchen, smirked beside him. "Now I need nuts."
"I could go get those!" Dan offered, rising from the couch. "You guys should stay here... although... I think I might've drank a few too many pumpkin ales... I probably shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car."
Natsu couldn't help the small snickering that he let out afterwards as he held his beer bottle.
"Natsu!" Lucy called. "You should go with him! How many pumpkin ales have you had?"
"Oh I've had zero pumpkin ales..." he drawled sarcastically.
"Then you can take him to the store, right?"
'Superfreak' by Madonna played on the speakers as a painfully uncomfortable silence stretched between the two men.
"Getting some nuts, gonna go get some nuts," Dan sang quietly under his breath.
"I'm sorry man, but are you singing about what we're doing?" Natsu glanced at him.
Dan thought about it for a moment. "I guess I was. I don't even think about it when I'm doing it sometimes. Hey, so, where're you from?"
"Magnolia."
"Oooh, Magnolia, land of the plenty," Dan started. "You know, it's weird to be in LA, it feels like there should be a little nip in the air, you know? Like a little bit like... like..."
Realizing that he was droning on and losing Natsu, he cleared his throat.
"So... Lucy tells me that you're a lawyer, right?"
"Not exactly," Natsu said, his grip on the steering wheel becoming tight. "I flunked out of law school. Three semesters left."
"Aw man, really?" Dan asked in disbelief. "You were so close too..."
Natsu nodded his head slowly, not wanting to engage in this topic of conversation anymore.
"So you're still trying to figure your life out huh? I mean that's what your twenties are for right?"
"I'm almost thirty," Natsu cut in starkly.
And with that, Dan retreated to turning his head and looking out of the window. Thanks to that, silence prevailed in the car once more, with the exception of the radio of course, until Dan spoke again.
"Oh!" He pointed to a building they were quickly passing by. "Mr. Copycat! That's where I get all my copies."
Natsu's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "No way! You get your copies there?" He asked excitedly.
"I d-d-... I dooooooooooooooooooon't," he trailed off awkwardly, not being able to decide whether he she say yes or no.
Natsu threw his head back, actually wanting to drive his face into the steering wheel.
"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!" he groaned.
Back in the kitchen, Cana and Loke were trying again for a functional cooking relationship with the first step being that Cana all but strap on a pair of thick, elbow-length rubber gloves before she touched another item in Loke's kitchen.
Currently, she was in the middle of mashing some boiled soft potatoes while Loke stood next to her, slicing and dicing an array of different vegetables.
"You've got it," Loke praised. "Long and sustained mashes."
Cana seemed more interested in something else entirely. "Hey I think you've got something on your nose," she said with a mischievous glint.
Loke turned to her. "What do you mean?"
As soon as he turned to face her however, he was met with a nose full of mashed potatoes with the thanks of Cana's rubber glove.
He sputtered for a moment before completely flipping out in a rage induced tirade.
"WH-WHAT?! NO! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Cana eyed his tantrum with titillating interest as he turned back to the cookbook. "Look at this recipe!" He said lifting the book and bringing it to Cana's eye level. "Where in this recipe does it say put mashed potatoes on Loke's nose?! Here? Or here? Or maybe here? Go on, show me!"
"Loke!"
Lucy, who had come rushing out of her room when she heard all the commotion, was mortified to find Loke dishing out his signature verbal lashings on her friend, but more importantly still, their guest.
The entire situation came to an end once the front door opened revealing Natsu and Dan had returned with two large cans of nuts.
"I've got the door Dan," Natsu said exhaustedly as Dan tried to both open and close the door for him. "C'mon man, move."
"We got the nuts Luce," Natsu said in passing as he headed towards the kitchen. The blonde was then face to face with her date.
"Hey, Lucy... I don't think Natsu likes me very much," Dan said quietly as he watched Natsu put away their groceries.
"What? No, don't worry, Natsu's just-"
BOW!
Whatever excuses she was about to make for her friend was cut off when the sound of a loud explosion, made everyone in the apartment jump with fright. All eyes turned to the laundry room where a huge and ominous puff of smoke was wafting out of it. Loke gasped.
"Turkey!" He cried sprinting forth and into the now completely smoked out hallway. "House on fire! Fire!"
He yanked off his shirt to fan away flames and smoke as he rushed in to try and save the turkey, as well as the main dish to all his preparations. The others all looked on in trepidation and terror as the wall of smoke quickly started spreading out the hallway with strong wisps of it hitting the kitchen. Lucy covered her mouth and Dan held her close.
Loke then momentarily slid out of the smoke hallway and into the living room, holding a turkey that was only badly burned on the top, victoriously over his head.
After about a half hour since the dryer explosion, the men of 4-D had been combining all of their efforts to rid their apartment of smoke (once the small fire was out of course). They had opened every last window, in every single room in the house, turned on all fans and pointed them out the windows and were now in the laundry room, with baking pan covers, storage bin tops and even pillows, anything they thought was possible to thin out the thickness of the smoke in there even by a little. It was to no avail however. There was still a visible wall of smoke in the apartment that made it hard to see past the living room/kitchen area.
Natsu and Gajeel continued to fan, while Loke started coughing. "It's like a Prince video in here..."
"I am so sorry, I really wanted you to have a good time!" Lucy apologized frantically to her coworker.
Dan coughed into the brown paper bag Lucy gave him while trying to breathe through it. "I'm having a great time, don't you worry," he said in a frothy voice.
"Remember when there were only dudes living in here and there were no fires?" Gajeel asked sarcastically.
"God, this is ridiculous," Natsu started. "Three months ago we didn't even know this girl!"
"Crap, now my LASIK eye is freaking out!" Loke added, clenching his left eye shut.
"Alright that's it," Natsu said. "We're leaving. Guys let's get out of here!"
Natsu, followed by Gajeel and Loke exited the smoke ridden hallway, closing the door behind them, confronting Dan and the girls. "Thanksgiving is over. We're going to the bar since we can't get rid of the smoke."
Before the three of them could exit though, Dan stopped them. "Wait you guys! You don't have to go, we can still do this!"
He turned to Loke. "I have been dying to try some of your food all day, I can tell you put a lot of effort into it. I mean, you've been slaving away in there!" he pleaded.
"What's your name again?" he asked.
"It's Loke. Although that's not my real name, but I can't exactly give you my first name so I'll give you my last name. It's Celeste."
"Well Celeste," Dan started. "My name is actually Daniel Straight Genzlinger, but I just have students and faculty call me Mr. Straight because it's less embarrassing. Anyways, I'd be honored to still eat the food that you've been preparing all day Loke."
The honey blonde couldn't help but smile at the man's sincerity.
"Well alright then... Genzlinger."
"I'm with Genzlinger!" Gajeel rallied.
"Guys, I have an idea!" Lucy added. "Why don't we go to the apartment next door?"
After rummaging around in her room for it, Lucy presented the group with a singular silver key, explaining that the elderly woman who lives next door was really sweet and liked her a lot, and was on vacation for a couple of days, thus leaving the blonde her spare key in order to water her plants. As such, Cana and Loke packed up their meal items and the six of them made their way over to the neighbor's apartment.
"Lucy, you know that we're still breaking and entering right?" Natsu asked her. "Which is still a felony in case you forgot."
"Ooh, felony! Nice one law school!" Dan said happily.
Natsu had to grind his teeth to keep from saying something really mean in return.
"Don't worry it's not breaking and entering since Mrs. Weathersberry has a key to our place. She's got shower issues sometimes."
Lucy unlocked the door and opened it, allowing for everyone to start filing in.
Except for Natsu.
"Nope, not you," she said quietly.
She stuck out and arm to keep him from entering the apartment and shut the door close behind her, leaving only the two of them in the hallway. The remaining four inside whipped their heads to the door when they heard it close.
"What is your problem?" Lucy started again in a hushed voice. "You promised me you'd be nice to him."
"I was nice to him! I've been very nice to Dan!" he defended himself.
"The whole car ride over I was nice to him and you know what he tells me about?" Natsu's voice travelled clearly through the door, leaving Loke, Cana and Dan to look at each other awkwardly.
"He likes Airbud 2," Natsu said in Lucy's face, sticking out his fingers as he began to list. "He loves dogs, I know where he gets his copies made, he likes to whistle, he wanted to open the door with me, so that when my hand went up so did his!"
"Oh boo hoo," Lucy mocked. "He's not cool enough for you, because nobody could ever be 'cool enough' for cool, big-time boxer Natsu Dragneel!"
Natsu reeled when she brought that up, but nonetheless she kept on going.
"Oh woe is me, I'm Natsu Dragneel, professional badass and nobody could ever be as cool as me cause I used fight!"
"Lucy, that has nothing to do with it!"
"Why don't you like him?!" She screeched in desperation, stomping her foot.
"Who cares what I think?! Do you like him?"
"Of course I like him."
"Then it doesn't matter what I think, now does it? Especially since I'm not the one who's gotta sleep with him!"
Lucy's cheeks quickly started turning a tomato red, as she backed up a bit in shock. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-who said I was trying to sleep with him on the first date!"
"Okay fine! Maybe not the first date but at some point, you're gonna wanna have sex with him, yes or no?!"
Lucy's shock quickly turned into angry defiance, as she furrowed her eyebrows and got in his face, not backing down.
"I do! I want to- want to have sex with him. Big time!"
Natsu looked away and nodded.
"You heard me right, Dragneel, BIG TIME! And you're just mad that I'm gonna be getting laid, and you're still not! Well you know what, THAT'S TOO BAD!"
From the other side of the door, Dan straightened up, while his face turned beet red. Gajeel smiled proudly at him while patting his shoulder. Loke reached over the counter to tap Dan's back in order to get his attention, before the honey blonde gave him a thumbs up with a huge grin.
Meanwhile, Lucy continued.
"I wanna take him down to Chinatown and slice him off a piece of this pumpkin pie!" She gestured to her body. "I wanna do all the things one can do in a bedroom with him, okay?! I wanna do it standing up and sitting down and half up and half down and the wiggly one and the Bear Attack and the claws and the hand! And the- and whatever figure skaters do, and the What's for Lunch? And the Gimme that hat!"
At this point, Natsu leaned in close too, never one to back down from a confrontation, but as Lucy continued listening off sex techniques, Natsu soon realized that she was just making stuff up in order to sound cooler than him. The attempt was outright adorable since he considered himself well known, if not a master of everybedroom technique there was, but he had to admit, it was almost funny watching her pull things out of her ass to get a point across.
Meanwhile inside the apartment, Gajeel looked at Dan's changing expressions amusedly while Loke beamed on at him proudly. Dan turned to Gajeel. "What's the, what's the Bear Attack?"
"Anyways, let's just say that I'm good!" Lucy continued. "I'm really really good, and I don't care what you think!"
"Then why did you keep asking me?!"
Lucy froze for a moment. And for the quiet that ensued afterward, she still couldn't come up with an answer.
Why did she care so much about what Natsu thought?
She was spared having to respond when the door suddenly opened revealing Gajeel's face.
"Why hello Natsu and Lucy," he said in a calm, collected voice. "I just thought you should know that everyone here really loves Dan. Also, we can hear everything you're saying."
Lucy's jaw dropped. Her face turned ghostly pale with dread as her eyes about popped out of its sockets. Natsu looked at her expression worriedly.
"Yeah, just know that whatever this means for you, it's doubly worse for me," Gajeel continued calmly. "Because you two, are embarrassing me in front of Dan. Now, come inside. Play it through."
With that, he disappeared back into the apartment leaving the door ajar for the pair to enter.
"After you Luce," Natsu kicked the door even wider. "Ladies first."
The blonde took a deep breath and walked inside to see all of her friends staring at her. Natsu took his place by the counter across from Cana and Loke to enjoy the show. Lucy cleared her throat.
"So uh... just a heads up. We were rehearsing a play that Natsu was writing," she eyed the guys nervously. "It's called... Big Time..."
Cana looked down from second hand embarrassment.
"It's about a man... who loves another man... named... Dan..." she looked at him nervously. "And it's... not very good..."
Natsu smirked and shook his head.
"I'm so sorry," she finally relented, covering her red face in embarrassment and retreated to the nearest bathroom to hopefully die from embarrassment.
"I've seen Big Time!" Loke suddenly popped up to ease the tension. "Only it was, another version of Big Time... and it wasn't a play..." he trailed off awkwardly.
A few more hours passed by. The turkey was fully cooked and dressed as Loke took it out of the oven. Gajeel and Natsu made themselves comfortable on Mrs. Weathersberry's couch, while Dan sat in an adjacent sofa chair tuning up his violin. Which in turn, annoyed the crap out of Natsu.
Meanwhile, Cana and Lucy were delegated to folding napkins in the corner.
"So on a scale of 1 to Bad, how bad was it?" Lucy asked, referring to the earlier incident.
"Let's just say that if he were a normal guy, he'd be long gone by now, but since he's still here..." She nudged her friend with her elbow and smiled at her.
"He's not normal," Lucy relented happily as she watched him tune his instrument.
"So get this: Loke yelled at me earlier," Cana said quietly to her.
"Oh I'm so sorry about that. He gets really weird whenever it comes down to cooking."
"No, no, no, it wasn't a problem at all. See, the thing is Luce... I think it's kinda hot."
"What?"
"Yes chica! He's got this rage inside of him, this fury that he seldom let's out... but I think I'm into it."
Lucy stopped folding for a moment.
"Cana... are you a masochist?"
"What? No! I'd never mask a kiss, if I wanna kiss someone I'll just kiss them."
Lucy stared at her.
"Honey that's not... that's not what I... you should probably Google what that word means."
"Loke!" Natsu called lazily from the couch. "It's hour nine and I'm starving!"
"Well I can blanch or I can talk but I can't do both!" He snapped back.
"I'm going in," Cana said abruptly, staring right at the head chef.
Dan continued to tune up his violin with his tuner and Natsu looked at him miserably. Dan caught his expression, even though Natsu tried to hide it with a muted smile. Dan however, made his way to sit on the couch right next to him.
"Natsu, I've got to say something to you," he started. "I feel like... you think I'm kind of annoying."
Natsu held back a chortle. "You did not have to come all the way over here to say that."
"If that's the case honestly, I don't care. I actually feel sort of sorry for you, because at this point in your life I know, you'll never dislike me, more than you dislike yourself."
Gajeel's mouth turned into a big 'O' at Dan's words, causing Natsu to start to feel embarrassed.
"You came all the way over to say that to my face, Violin?" Natsu asked incredulously.
Dan didn't bother to answer him but instead got up and walked away. He went over to Lucy folding napkins and started playing a diddy on his violin. A diddy that made Lucy giggle gleefully. Natsu scowled at the disturbance to the rest of his football game.
When he was done, Lucy spoke up shyly. "I can't believe you're still here..."
"What do you mean? Of course I'm still here. Why wouldn't I be?"
Cana approached Loke as he whisked away at a bowl of banana pudding.
"So let's talk about what happened earlier," she said.
Loke put his bowl down as remorse started to kick in. Cana leaned in closer.
"Because you made me feel like a really... bad girl..." she finished quietly.
He sighed.
"I know I did... and I'm really sorry Cana. I'll never yell at you like that again."
Dissatisfied, she looked down at his banana pudding and with a bold dip into the substance, she scooped some of the dessert up with her bare fingers.
Loke all but threw up.
"How 'bout now?" she tested.
"Please don't... please don't do that..."
"I've got my dirty little hands... all over your pudding," she continued.
"So gr-gross," he said quietly.
What put the icing on the cake was when she took her sullied fingers from the bowl and into her mouth, savoring the taste of the creamy desert.
"It's scrumptious..." she said enticingly.
"I'm gonna throw up..." he said to himself.
"Yell at me," Cana said plainly.
Loke ran for the nearest clean towel and presented it to her. "Please take this towel."
She swirled her tongue around her finger, delighting in Loke's discomfort.
"I haven't washed my hands since 3:00pm and I'm gonna double dip," she said, swirling her finger in the air.
"PLEASE JUST TAKE THIS TOWEL!" Loke yelled again.
Dan looked at the ground for a moment, trying to summon the courage to ask his date a certain question.
"So look, this may be none of my business... but, did anything ever happen between you and Natsu? Did you guys maybe go out or...?"
Lucy gasped. "No! No, never," she assured him.
"I'm sorry I just have to ask because I don't want to get in the middle of anything and-"
"I promise you Dan, the answer is no."
He exhaled in relief.
"Good..." he stated quietly. "Because I really like you Lucy... and I really want to see you again... big time."
Lucy chuckled at his rehashing of her bad lie, and felt her cheeks heat up at the declaration of his feelings.
"Big time," she repeated with a smile. "Just like the play."
"Gajeel, do you really like this guy?" Natsu sipped on another cold beer next to his cousin as the two of them watched Lucy and Dan whisper and giggle to each other like six year olds.
"Yes actually. I do. He actually wanted to talk to me about my grandfather, and man you never want to talk about my grandfather."
"Why would I talk to you about your grandfather when I was there for all of that?"
"Yeah but you never talked to me about how I felt about it afterwards. We've known each other just about all our lives and I sometimes feel like you don't really know me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that you never open up to me. I always have to be the one to open up to you in order for us to ever have a meaningful conversation. Sure, we joke and kid around a lot, but when the real shit happens you just pretend like it never did. And you know what Natsu? Maybe if you were more honest to yourself about your feelings, you wouldn't be in the predicament you're in now."
"Predicament?"
Gajeel shook his head dismissively. "Nothing man. If you don't know, then I don't either," he said before downing the rest of his beer.
Finally, dinner was served.
Loke and Cana happily brought out the plates with the entrée and sides and placed it on the dinner table for the hungry party.
"Hey Dan, why don't you play something for us on the violin?" Lucy offered.
"Aww, I'm sure your friends aren't interested in me playing, and everyone's hungry so-"
"What are you kidding me? Play something for us Genzlinger!" Loke cheered.
The rest of the group followed suit.
"C'mon man!"
"Serenade us Genzlinger!"
"Play something!"
With the encouragement from her friends, Dan agreed. He whispered something to Lucy about a number at a pageant from their school and then he began to play.
"Fellow Native Americans," Lucy began reciting the lines. "Today I've ran into a new friend..."
Dan disappeared into the hallway to reappear as Lucy's new friend. He turned the corner through one of the open doors but instead, let out a blood curdling scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DEAD BODY! DEAD BODY"
The gang exchanged looks with one another as Dan came speeding down the hall.
"Well I guess there's a dead body nearby," Cana said awkwardly, and that got everyone to start moving to the room Dan came out of.
Sadly, what they saw was accurate to Dan's hysterical screams.
"Oh my God..."
"Oh shit, that's real!" Gajeel winced.
"Oh no," Lucy covered her mouth. "Poor Mrs. Weathersberry..." she said in dismay.
"Oooooohhh," Loke said in realization. "That Ms. Weathersberry. From the mailboxes."
In short order, the police and ambulance were inside apartment 4-c. The paramedics had the woman's body in a body bag on a gurney being rolled out of the apartment. Dan was covered in a foil blanket provided by the paramedics as Lucy apologized again for his unpleasant surprise and the day overall. He kept insisting to her that it was alright.
As he was on his way out Loke patted his back.
"It was good to meet ya, Genzlinger," he said. "Hey, we're going to a Best Buy later to buy a dryer. If you're up for it, maybe you can stop by."
As he boarded the elevator, Loke took off his foil blanket, handed him his violin in it's case and waved him goodbye.
Before the elevator closed though, the paramedics reached their arms to stop the doors and then entered with the old woman's body in tow.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no," Dan said panicking.
Gajeel finger pointed at him as the elevator doors closed with Dan and the corpse in it. "My man, Genzlinger!"
On the Best Buy line, which seemed about a mile long, night finally came for them and it started to get chillier and chillier by the minute which made them rub their arms together for warmth. Loke, noticing Cana's chilliness offered her his cardigan.
"Are you cold? Do you want my cardi?"
The brunette rolled her eyes and walked away.
"At least she died doing what she loved..." Lucy said, reminiscing about her friend.
"She was on the toilet Luce," Loke deadpanned.
Gajeel's stomach growled really loudly.
"Man I'm starving," he said.
"Really? Even after that great meal we didn't have?" Natsu asked.
Lucy gave him an icy glare, and when his gaze met hers, she turned away with her nose pointed in the air.
"I see not even your family's spared from your sharp tongue."
"Oh come on Lucy, are you going to be mad at me for the rest of the night?"
She made a hmph sound, refusing to talk to him.
Suddenly the sounds of violin playing filled the air. Lucy perked up, recognizing that pageant melody from anywhere.
"Dan!" she cried. "You came!"
Sure enough, with violin and a white bag in tow, was Lucy's date, and probably the most understanding human being in all of mankind.
"When I was on that elevator ride from hell, the coroner told me to stop crying like a girl, I told him that was sexist-"
"-and you're right," Lucy interjected.
"I am right. And then I just decided that... life is too short, you know? So I drove to the nearest Subway, picked up some turkey sub footlongs for your friends," Gajeel helped himself to the white bag that Dan was carrying and immediately opened up a sub.
"And now here I am Lucy. Just a man and his violin."
"Dan you're amazing," she said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around him and they shared a warm embrace.
Suddenly, a guy from behind them spoke up.
"Hey, no cutting! Is he he cutting?"
Natsu turned around annoyed. "Nobody's cutting!"
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to appease the customers waiting in line, as word spread like wildfire that someone was cutting and a mini riot started to form from the line behind them.
As Natsu and friends tried to put out the flames, they seemed to only stoke the fire of rage.
"Look he's not cutting in line I was just holding his spot okay?" Natsu offered.
The guy right behind him who first started the commotion, turned behind him and shouted.
"FALSE ALARM EVERYONE! THERE WAS NO CUTTING ONLY FAIR TRADESIES!"
"For fuck's sake, would you people stop overreacting to cutting!" Natsu shouted after the commotion died down. He turned to his friends.
"I'm just gonna go home. This spot's for Dan," he said.
Dan was surprised.
"Thanks Natsu."
"I'm sorry I didn't give you a fair chance," Natsu said in return. With that, Natsu turned around to walk away.
"Natsu wait!"
He stopped at Lucy's voice. She took a hold of Dan's free hand and walked towards Natsu. "Let's just head to the back of the line together."
"Why?"
"Because this is our Thanksgiving thing. And it won't be much fun if you aren't here with us Natsu."
Gajeel, Loke and Cana shared looks with each other, and with knowing expressions forfeited their spots in the line as they walked off as well, following the other three.
As the six of them made their way to the back of the line, with the end seemingly not in sight, Dan starting playing a different melody on his violin, plucking it with his fingers instead of using the bow. Lucy and the others recognized the melody and he looked at her and smiled.
"Who better to serenade us than you milady," he said. "Think of this, as our road trip music to the back."
Dan opened up his mouth and began to sing, his smooth baritone reverberating in the air.
'One love, One Heart,'
'Let's get together and feel alright'
Lucy joined in, her light lyric soprano voice complementing the smokiness of Dan's voice. She belted out the next few lyrics with Dan repeating the chorus in the background.
'Hear the children crying! (One Love)'
'Oh hear the children crying! (One Heart)'
The two of them harmonized together the rest of the chorus, with Lucy taking the upper register and Dan, the lower.
'Sayin' give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right'
'Sayin' let's get together and feel all right'
Her roommates were nothing short of surprised at Lucy's pleasing singing voice as the two teachers harmonized perfectly, creating a sound that was even more beautiful than the sum of its parts. The Best Buy customers who were enjoying the music clapped along to the beat. The guys could hardly believe how in sync Lucy and Dan were for the duet, especially for not having rehearsed this before. Despite their audience, Lucy and Dan continued to sing as if they were in their own world.
Lucy took the lead next as Dan continued the background vocals.
'Let them all pass all their dirty remarks'
'There is one question I'd really love to ask (One Heart)'
Hearing Lucy sing seriously for the first time opened Natsu's eyes to a whole new side of his female friend. Her voice was smooth and soothing, and unlike all the other nursery rhymes or random jingles Lucy would sing around the apartment, she sounded like a professional here and he wanted to close his eyes due to the sound.
Dan came in to sing the rest of the verse, his baritone transitioning beautifully with Lucy's soprano again before Lucy took lead of the chorus completely.
'Is there a place for the hopeless sinner'
'Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?'
'Believe me'
'One Love, One Heart'
'Let's get together and feel all right'
Feeling comfortable enough to do so, Lucy belted some higher notes for "was" and "shall" before she and Dan harmonized together again for the ending.
'As it was in the beginning (One Love)'
'So shall it be in the end (One Heart)'
'Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right'
'Let's get together and feel alright'
For the closing lines, Dan slowed the tempo of his plucking down, as he and Lucy slowed down the last few notes together.
'Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right'
'Let's get together and feel all right'
Lucy did an impressively long run on the last note which made made members of the crowd hoot at her opulent vocal prowess. When they were done, the crowd roared into cheers and applause as Lucy and Dan shared another warm embrace. The guys cheered too.
"Now why won't you sing more like that around the apartment," Loke started. "Instead of whatever it is that you do..."
"I can't believe it," Gajeel said with an amused smile. "You can actually sing."
She blushed at their compliments and cast a glance on the floor. "Oh well, you know, its just something I like to do from time to time."
Cana raised a curious eyebrow at that response but decided not to question her on it in front of everyone. Instead, she continued to quietly beam with pride.
Dan pulled out his bow and started playing the pageant melody that he started earlier but stopped. Lucy started skipping merrily around him, and suddenly the two of them started skipping to the back of the parking lot to the upbeat melody of Dan's violin.
Natsu watched the two of them enjoying themselves with a smile. He zoned in on the sheer delight on Lucy's face as she skipped away. His chest warmed seeing her so happy. Something he was sure he hadn't seen her be in a while since she moved in honestly. At least not to this degree. It was nice.
He was broken out of his daze when he realized the duo were skipping into the uncharted forest right next to the Best Buy.
"Wait, where in the hell are they going?!"
Hello all! I wanted to upload this chapter on the day of, or closer to Thanksgiving, but real life hit me like a freight train and I was in the middle of a serious mental health funk around that time and I needed the time to myself to try and get my life in order. Regardless, here I am!
The song Lucy and Dan sing at the end is One Love (People Get Ready), I think its a mashup but I'm basing their singing on the Glee version where Puck and Artie sing their duet. Lucy sings Artie's part while Dan sings Puck's.
A few Easter Eggs, one, the red rose in Lucy's hair is the same one that Natsu bought for her from the last chapter and two, she was also wearing the jam shirt from chapter 2.
So I know that the story is still pretty similar to the show, but I need some of these earlier season one episodes to help me branch out into my own ideas for the story. We'll get there soon. But for now we get Easter Eggs and bits of backstory from our characters! What do you think?
Also, I was asked by someone if I was going to have Natsu and Lucy see other people in the story like Jess and Nick do in the show, and I figured I'd just answer it here! Actually, this chapter, is sort of the answer to your question. Would you consider this a slow burn? And spoilers for the show if you care, but Nick and Jess don't get together until around the end of season 2. It does take a while, but in my opinion, their buildup was immaculate. One thing we don't get from the show though, is the inner thoughts from any of the characters, which I hope to fully take advantage of in this story so we aren't left high and dry with development between the two.
Thank you all so much the consistent feedback, I really appreciate all of you so much. Big thanks to queenuly14, Meow Orbit, Copperreign12 and rao hyuga 18 for reviewing the last chapter! Shoutout to queenuly for being put on to New Girl thanks to my story! New Girl fans rise up, LMAO.
Until next time!