i: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lucy Heartfilia carefully watched the little expression her best friend Levy McGarden would make as she read what was typed out on the screen of the rose gold MacBook.
She winced whenever Levy frowned. She sat up straight whenever Levy's eyebrows furrowed. She smiled whenever the corners of Levy's lips curled up into a small smile. Whenever Levy sighed, which was often, she found herself on edge, prepared for battle.
Finally, Levy closed the MacBook and let out a final sigh.
"Um...so...you like it?" Lucy asked, squeezing the cute-looking plush panther toy in her arms as she sat up straight on Levy's bed.
Levy was sitting in her computer chair that felt more like a storage unit for multicolored throw pillows. "It's not like I don't like it. It's just..." Levy place the MacBook on the desk and stood up. "How do I put this?"
Lucy began to pull at the acrylic nails she had just gotten done the day before as Levy paced back and forth, searching for the right words. Then, Levy stopped walking and faced Lucy. "Are Aries and Loki even in love with each other?"
Lucy blinked. Then, she nodded. "Yeah."
"It doesn't seem that way," Levy said.
"How?" Lucy asked, finally leaving her nails alone.
"I know that Loki is supposed to be this huge flirt or whatever but if he truly loved Aries, he'd be giving her the most attention out of everyone. And he'd be doing the little things for her cuz the little things do matter. Meanwhile, if Aries truly loved Loki, she wouldn't just simply settle for his player ways. Like, who would be okay with that?" Levy explained.
"But there are many dynamics like this in the rom-coms. The guy is either a jerk or a huge flirt and the girl eats it up," Lucy explained. "Look at Gray for example. He's cold to everyone but girls and guys fall in love with him within seconds."
"With Gray, he doesn't have feelings for his admirers, and his admirers don't actually love him. They just like the idea of loving him and him loving them back. Or to put it more bluntly, they're physically attracted to him. With rom-coms that show those dynamics, the ones that are done wrong only show the physical attraction. The ones done right show the actual emotional attraction and that is shown through the suggestions I just said earlier and more. Makes sense?" Levy answered.
Lucy scratched her head in confusion. "No, it doesn't make any sense..."
Levy sat down next to Lucy and pulled her into a side hug. "Oh, my poor, poor, don't-know-jack-shit-about-love bestie. Why are you even trying to write a romance novel when you can't even tell the difference between emotional attraction and physical attraction?"
"Because if you notice in almost every novel, there's some sort of romance, whether people want to believe it or not. Sometimes, it's the wholesome type. Other times, it's just kinda there. People like romance and romance novels become big fast. By graduation, I want to have published a bestselling romance novel and I don't want it to be the trashy type," Lucy answered.
Written in 99 pages on Google Doc is the romance novel she was writing, Signs of Sparks. Sometimes, she sends the new portions to Levy, her self-proclaimed editor. Most of the time, she shows Levy the new portions whenever she's over. With Levy presiding over the story, the characters of Aries and Loki have changed so much along with the premise to the point that she wasn't even sure herself what was happening plot-wise. But she knew she had to throw in some romance. And because romance was surprisingly hard to write, she decided to focus on romance and have the plot develop itself around the romance.
"Hmmm...maybe it's because you've never been in a relationship. That's probably why you're struggling," Levy said.
Lucy thought about it. "Could that be it?"
"Probably," Levy responded. "You have a whole army of admirers DMing you at ungodly numbers, asking you out while you're out in the wild, and straight flirting with you. Just date one of them and learn about love from them since clearly rom-coms aren't doing it for you."
"But I don't have feelings for any of them," Lucy answered.
"Okay, and?" Levy simply responded.
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and broke the side hug. "Wouldn't that be me technically playing with their feelings?"
"Nah, not really." Levy blinked. "Actually, is it?"
Suddenly, they heard something tap against the window.
Levy groaned. That was enough of a sign for Lucy to know that it was time for her to leave.
As Lucy grabbed her MacBook and shoved it into her backpack, Levy stomped over to the window and threw the curtains open. There was her boyfriend Gajeel Redfox on the other side, holding onto the windowsill for dear life. In the all-girls on campus dorm she lived in, boys weren't allowed in so he usually got creative with his ways to enter.
"Let me in!" His muffled voice yelled through the glass of the window.
Levy placed her hands on her hips. "Why should I?"
"Baby, please!" Gajeel begged as he dangled from the third floor.
"Don't call me baby!" Levy yelled.
Lucy quickly slipped out of the room as Levy and Gajeel continued to argue with the glass of the window in between them.
A pro and a con about going to a university in the city was the fact that the buildings were scattered all over the city. What counted as technically on-campus? Who knew. But at least a student coming in from a rural area for college could experience city life and decide whether the city life was made for them or not.
Gajeel and Levy are always arguing, yet they're still together, Lucy thought absentmindedly to herself as she wandered the nighttime streets of the bustling City of Magnolia.
The city lights made the stars above lose all of their shine as the inhabitants scurried off to their next destinations. It was long past rush hour but traffic still raged on and the sidewalks and roads were full. Individuals had their own stories unfolding all around with no mind to the other individuals. There were high school students who were leaving cram schools and internet cafes. Adults with business attire were getting into and out of busses. Families and friends were walking in and out of the opened businesses that lined the streets. Couples were holding hands as they strolled together, lost in their own world.
Lucy stopped walking to study a couple standing at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change in order to crossed the street. One hand was in the other as they whispered and giggled with each other. Then, suddenly they started making out as if their lives depended on it.
Lucy tilted her head as she shamelessly watched the scene. Is kissing truly that good that you need to suck each other's faces off? Do you truly love each other that much that you need to stick your tongues down each other's throats? I really don't get it...
She was forced to look away when a bad feeling suddenly rushed over her. She turned away from the couple and went the opposite way. Then, she broke into a clean sprint. When she did, hooded figures that were following her from a distance ran after her. People who were minding their business were forced to move out of the way as Lucy and the hooded figures ran by. They watched them for a bit before they went on with their business. It's the city. People get chased all the time. The key is to mind your own damn business.
Damn city folk! Lucy bitterly thought and she ran down the stairs leading to the subway underground. The hooded figures followed.
The subway was even more crowded as people were rushing to get from point A to point B. This worked to Lucy's advantage. She mixed in with the crowd as she quickly bought a train ticket. Every few seconds, she frantically looked behind her to see if the figures could see her. Once the ticket was in hand, she cut through the crowd in order to make it to the next train.
Unfortunately for her, she came a second too late.
Many people like her were running to catch the next train and some even resorted to pushing others out of the way. By the time Lucy made it to the train, it was already full and the doors were starting to close.
"Fuck!" She yelled, picking up her speed that was rapidly dwindling.
Then, unexpectedly, a boy with pink hair aboard the train used his leg to hold open the sliding doors and held his hand out for her. "You can make it!"
Lucy was thrown off by the act of kindness that she even stopped running. Then, she shook her head and started running towards the boy.
Once she was close enough, she took his soft but calloused hand and he pulled her into the train. At the same time, his leg left the doorway and the doors slid close behind them.
Lucy stumbled into his chest with her hand still holding onto the pink-haired boy's hand. Immediately, she felt a sense of warmth the closer she was to the boy as if he was a walking fireplace. The idea of separating from him only made her cold. So, she closed her eyes and nuzzled closer.
Girl, the fuck are you doing!? Lucy immediately let go of the boy and attempted to separate from him. The train car was crowded, though, so she could only go so far.
She looked down and rubbed her arm. "...um, thanks."
The boy smiled. "Of course!"
She study his appearance while making sure she wasn't making it obvious that she was actually staring at him. Luckily for her, though, he was more focused on his phone. His hair was messy and the black suit he wore looked thrown on. The buttons were unbuttoned and the red dress shirt peaking out from underneath was wrinkled. He couldn't even bother to tie the tie he had draping over his shoulders. But then, she looked at his dark eyes eyes and saw a mischievous glint in them that she felt were most likely permanent.
He must be a troublemaker forced against his will to dress up or something, she eventually decided, looking away from him. Troublemaker...with soft but at the same time calloused hands...and before she knew it, she was looking at him once again.
The smile he had given her had a certain charm to it. She didn't sense any malice behind it. It was just honest and simple. And when she looked at his face, his features actually were not that bad. In fact, if he fixed himself up, he was very attractive. And this troublemaker can charm people if he really wanted to...
She suddenly pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened the Google Docs app on her phone. With her arm hooked tightly to the pole next to her so she wouldn't lose her balance on the train, she moved the document titled Signs of Sparks to trash and created a new document, also naming it Signs of Sparks. Then, she started typing.
The train arrived at the next stop. Some people came off. Some people came on. Then, it moved on. Lucy and the stranger with the pink hair had their eyes glued to their phones. The stranger was looking at whatever he was looking at while Lucy was typing up a scene right before her own eyes. Her thumbs were moving without her commanding them to and the words formed without her realizing.
She snapped out of the spell when she felt the stranger's warmth leave a couple of stops later. She blinked and watched him exit the train in a rush, glancing down at his phone before focusing on what's in front of him. He's probably late for something, she thought before she went back to her typing.
Then, she stopped and stared at the latest sentence she had typed: Aries shivered as the warmth the stranger offered her- Lucy didn't finish. The sentence sounded familiar. She quickly read through everything she had just typed as as she did, her face fell.
Did I...finally write a good meet-cute between Aries and Loki...? She thought. She had been struggling for days to write a meet-cute after Levy asked her how the character even met. Levy had left plenty of notes and comments on the previous meet-cutes and they weren't good ones. She's had to rewrite them over and over again and suddenly, just like that, she was able to finally write one and feel confident in it.
A smile grew on her face. And then, it was replaced with a frown at the realization that she had just deleted the original document. "Shit...fuck!" She yelled.
Someone coughed. She looked around and found that the number of people on the train had dwindled. She was also getting a couple of funny looks from the older women on the train with her. I've been here for a while. Coast's definitely clear.
She hopped off the train at the next stop and watched it speed away. Once the train was gone, she heard a couple sets of shoes click against the concrete. She turned around and groaned loudly. The hooded figures along with a couple more hooded figures were now surrounding her.
She groaned loudly again as she turned back around. Across the tracks was another subway platform. All she had to do was run towards it and make sure a train doesn't hit her. Bonus points, a train would come out of nowhere and it the people chasing her.
Her plan was put into action.
Lucy started running and she was in the middle of the track when one of the hooded figures quickly caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, muffling her mouth in the process. She kicked and screamed as the figure dragged her back to the group of the others in hoodies. Then, with more of them holding onto her, they dragged her up the stairs of the subway into the fresh air of the nighttime city above.
Parked on the side of the street was a black van and the figured threw her in. One of the figures pulled out his phone and spoke to the person on the other line. "Yes, boss. We've caught her."
"Don't say anything when the boss speaks to you. Just nod your head," one of the hooded figures told Lucy as they dragged her inside through the lobby of the 5-star luxurious hotel called Heartfilia Palace.
Lucy couldn't help but roll her eyes.
The high end guests of the hotel all gasped and moved out of the way as Lucy was dragged into an elevator with a reserved sign that read "For the King." The employees, meanwhile, went on about their shift, clear in their eyes and behavior that this was a normal sight.
The elevator took Lucy and the figures to the top floor of the hotel and the double doors slid open. A grand stairwell of a foyer were in sight and a grand diamond chandelier sparkled from the ceiling. Plants were potted against the clean walls and the marble floors were sparkling. Then, sitting at center of the foyer was a dining chair.
Lucy was placed in the chair before the hooded figures scurried away. A man with blonde hair and a designer business suit was leaning against the railing at the top of the staircase and was watching the whole ordeal.
"Lucy," the man said.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Father."
Jude Heartfilia, her father and head of the multimillion and highly influential Heartfilia Konzern, adjusted the buttons on his sleeve. "Today's our weekly family dinner. You know that today's our weekly family dinner. And you know that you can never be late! But you're late! Again! You are always late for our family dinner!"
"So you hired men to kidnap me and drag me back?" Lucy asked.
"It's not the first time that I've done this!" Jude cried.
"I know! You do this almost every day at this point and it's starting to bother me!" Lucy cried.
"I'm just looking after my daughter! Is that a problem!?" Jude asked.
Lucy stood up. "Yes! It is! A normal father wouldn't send people to kidnap his own daughter!"
"Because they don't have the means to! I'm crazy rich so I can do as I please!" Jude cried.
Lucy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Fix that attitude! When you grow up and take over the family business, you can't be rolling your eyes all the time!" Jude hissed.
"Believe me when I say I only roll them at you!" Lucy cried.
Jude stumbled back as if he was just shot. "You look just like your mother but you act the complete opposite! What's up with all of the attitude!?"
"He's being dramatic for what?" Lucy grumbled.
Suddenly, Jude swung a leg over the railing. "I guess I should just kill myself!"
Maids and butlers who were standing by quickly ran to Jude's side. "Sir, don't do it!"
"Do a flip!" Lucy yelled before storming out of the room.
Two maids quickly grabbed her and sat her back down. Groaning, Lucy looked up at her father who had settled down from his suicide attempt. "What now!?"
"Family dinner!" He yelled.
She rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed the maids to the dining room.
The dining table was already set up with meals cooked by 5-star Micheline chefs and her mother, Layla Heartfilia, was already seated at the table. She was gracefully swirling the red wine in her wine glass as Lucy sat down in the chair across from her.
"Lucy, you're a woman. It's not safe for a woman to be out late all by herself. At least take Gajeel with you. We hired a street rat like him to be your bodyguard for a reason," Layla said with her angelic voice.
So Lucy could have a bodyguard that was her age, Jude found Gajeel, a street fighter, and somehow convinced him to be her bodyguard. But little do her parents know, Gajeel was now in a relationship with Levy. Lucy has used that fact in her advantage in multiple ways. Tonight she left Gajeel, who was there to pick her up and to talk to Levy, to argue with Levy so she could avoid the weekly dinner.
"Don't blame Gajeel. I was the one who chose to sneak away from him." Lucy didn't want Gajeel to get in trouble. She wouldn't call him a friend. They've never had a real conversation but she knew that Levy saw something in him despite their arguing. So, for her best friend, she'll vouch for her best friend's boyfriend.
Jude entered the room and plopped down in his literal throne at the table. "Finally. Our family is completed."
Lucy rolled her eyes again as Layla took a sip of her wine with a pleasant expression on her face.
"Before we get started, there is something important that I need to share," Jude said, snappy his fingers.
Jude's right hand man, Jose Porla, entered the room with a folder in his hands. He handed it to Jude as Jude continued what he was saying. "Lucy, you will be graduating very soon, meaning you're steps closer form inheriting my business empire."
He skipped through the contents of the folder, smiled, and handed it to Lucy.
"What's in this?" She asked, eying him suspiciously.
"Your graduation gift!" Jude answered happily.
Lucy opened the folder and the first document in there was a picture of a nightclub called Love & Lucky.
"That is the club that your mother and I decided to name you after," Jude said, reaching for Layla's hand. Layla took it and smiled lovingly into his eyes. Lucy cringed and continued to flip through the folder.
"Back then, the club wasn't doing well. I do not remember why we were even at a run down place like that but that doesn't matter. What does matter is why we named you after that. The 'K' on the sign had fallen and we were laughing for ages at how ghetto and dusty the club was. Then, we saw that it spelled 'Love & Lucy' and the name Lucy just sounded perfect at that moment.
"Now, you have grown up and are looking more and more like a diamond. I realize that I cannot let your namesake continue to sit out there in the wild all broken down and disgusting. You are a woman of high class, after all. So I have decided to buy the club and give it to you!" Jude explained.
Lucy blinked. "What? Father, that is a horrible present?"
"Wait, but get this. It is currently going through renovations. In fact, it should be in its finishing stages! And once the renovations are complete, it will officially be yours. You will be the CEO of the club! How amazing is that!?" Jude cried.
"But I don't want to own a club," Lucy said, setting the folder down.
"I know. You want to have my empire. But my empire is my first born son. I need you to prove to me that you can handle a simple business. If this club fails, any discussion of you taking over the Heartfilia Konzern is done," Jude said.
Lucy stayed silent. Even though she didn't want to agree with her father, he had a point. If she couldn't handle something as small as a nightclub, how could she handle a multimillion business empire?
"Okay, but why a nightclub out of all things?" Lucy asked instead.
"It's not just a club! It's your namesake! It's perfect! The diamond that a shabby old club was named after arrives and transforms the club into something worth her own value!" Jude cried.
Layla nodded enthusiastically but gracefully. "I think you taking over this club is a wonderful idea." Next to her, a maid was pouring her another glass of wine.
Lucy sighed. "...but still..."
"Tell you what. Visit the club sometime tomorrow and take a look around. Oh, and you can leave the renovators notes. It's your club, after all," Jude suggested. "Make it your own! It's your child!"
"My child, huh?" Lucy said to herself bitterly as she laid on her stomach in her king sized bed after the dinner.
Her MacBook was open in front of her and she was staring at the scene she had typed earlier on the subway. After sharing it to Levy's email and sending her a text to check the document whenever she was free, she reread the scene for the thousandth time.
Why were ideas flowing out of me at that time? Why am I sitting here struggling to continue the scene now? She wondered. But this whole scene is based on my interaction with that stranger...
She looked out her window where she had a beautiful view of the dots of lights bellow. I wonder where that guy was rushing off to...?
The lights were off in an abandoned warehouse. A figure with a bag over his head was tied to a chair in the middle of the building. The moon was shining down on the figure as two other men in suits stood in front of the figure.
A third man rushed into the warehouse. "I know I'm late! I got distracted! My bad!"
One of the men standing in front of the figure tied to the chair turned around with a blunt in his mouth. He let out a puff and scowled. "Took you long enough, Natsu," he said before glancing up.
The person who had just walked in, Natsu Dragneel, looked up at what the man was looking at and saw another man in a suit standing on a platform above them. Natsu smiled up at the man and put his hands together in apology. Then, he faced the figured tied up to the chair and grabbed the blunt out of the hands of the man who had spoken to him.
As Natsu took a sip, he glanced down at the sleeves of his suit and saw that the buttons weren't button. His red dress shirt was wrinkled and his tie simply draped over his shoulder since he couldn't tie a tie. His pink hair was messy but it was always messy. He knew that if he fixed himself up, he would be what people considered to be attractive. But he wasn't trying to attract people so why should he put in any effort?
Natsu let out a puff and handed the blunt back. The other man who was standing in front of the tied up figure handed him a metal bat.
Natsu smiled and took the bat. The mischievous glint in his eyes sparked in excitement and his smile grew brighter. One of the men with him took the bag off of the figure's head and the figure started shaking with tears and snot running down their face.
"Go easy on him. We still need him to talk," one of the men said.
"I'll do my best." Then, smiling brightly at the figure who was attempting and failing to get out of their restraints, Natsu raised the bat over his head and swung.
Random Fact: The title of this chapter is the title of the Bollywood movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. I couldn't think of a good chapter name so I looked through the story to find specific scenes to name the chapter after. The scene where the boy helps Lucy get onto the train was inspired by that iconic train scene in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge where Shah Rukh Khan's character helps Kajol's character onto the train so I was like "fuck it" and named the chapter after that movie. Y'all should watch it! It's a Bollywoon classic!
Wassup!? It's ya girl sugarsugarrush!
This story was released exactly a year ago but I rewrote it. Happy 1 year anniversary to this story!
This is the rewritten version of the story! Wooooo (if y'all are new readers, y'all didn't miss much. The story had barely even started when I decided to change things)! For those who have reviewed and left me PMs, thank you very much! Like, y'alls reviews and PMs made me really smile and encouraged me to go on (I had actually quit writing since I felt drained mentally and physically but writing is still a part of me. It will somehow hunt me down and drag me back against my will. It's like we're in an abusive relationship).
A couple of disclaimers: I do not own Fairy Tail. Also, I'm not a yakuza so if you're a yakuza and reading this story and thinking "oh this is so not true," I'M SORRY! BUT I'M TELLING YOU NOW I'M NOT A YAKUZA!
Anyways, don't forget to leave me some reviews or PMs! Let me know your thoughts and opinions and more! Later!
...I really hope y'all like this story...