By the time they got ready it was already late into the afternoon. Cana went off to meet up with Bacchus since he'd be busy all night.
"Wanna help Sabertooth set up?" Yukino asked, "Maybe pre-party a little bit."
Lucy smirked, "You know me, can't say no to free alcohol."
They made their way to the Sabertooth house. Deciding to walk since neither of them wanted the responsibility of having to be sober to drive. Sting met them on the front lawn.
"Welcome ladies," he greeted them before kissing Yukino.
"So, what can we help with?" Yukino asked.
They made their way through the house and to the kitchen where every possible surface was covered in some type of alcoholic drink. Beer, wine, vodka, rum, hard seltzers. Whatever you could think of it was in this room.
"We do have a little issue," Sting nervously scratched the back of his head, "We don't have that many chasers. I was wondering if you guys could run to the store and get some?"
Lucy was already opening a wine cooler, "Sounds decent, but how are we getting there?"
"That's where I come in." Said a voice coming from the staircase.
Lucy closed her eyes and said a silent prayer before turning around to see who the voice belonged to. Low and behold it was Natsu.
"This is getting creepy," she told him.
"I agree."
"Anyways," Sting interrupted, "Natsu can drive you guys."
Yukino moved closer to Sting, "What about you?"
"I'll stay here," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Yukino looked back at Lucy and Natsu, "You guys can manage alone right? I mean how many people do you need for a juice run?"
Lucy and Natsu stared at each other before looking back at the couple before them, "Fine" Lucy said before taking her drink with her and following Natsu out of the house.
"Quick rule about my car," Natsu started, "No opened alcoholic drinks allowed."
Lucy rolled her eyes before chugging the wine cooler and throwing it away, "Happy?"
"Very," Natsu said before opening the passenger side door.
"So…" Lucy started.
"I'm just as surprised as you are," Natsu told her not taking his eyes off the road.
"So, you didn't know I was coming?" Lucy asked.
"No, I mean, I knew Yukino was coming," Natsu explained, "And Sting said she was bringing a friend but didn't tell me who. Besides this is my second time seeing her. I'm close to Sting, not to her."
Lucy nodded; her mind put at ease once she found out this wasn't some type of set up. "So Natsu, what do you do?"
"I'm training to be a firefighter," he answered, "You?"
"I'm majoring in English and I work part-time at a library." Suddenly Lucy felt shy to be sharing this information, which was weird considering their history.
"Impressive. I don't have the attention span to do either of those things," Natsu complimented.
"Thanks," she quietly said.
Lucy felt awkward, which was a fairly new feeling to her. She's always carried herself with a certain elegance and now she couldn't handle saying thanks without sounding like a shy pre-teen talking to their crush. Get it together Lucy.
"Here," Natsu snapped her out of her train of thoughts.
Natsu grabbed a cart while Lucy led the way to the section where the drinks were. Sting didn't exactly give her a list on what to specifically buy so she began throwing random juices and sodas in. How were they even going to pay for it? She assumed Natsu already had that covered. After she loaded up the cart Natsu made his way to the snack aisle and Lucy followed behind.
"Sting didn't say anything about snacks."
"These are for me," he said, throwing in two bags of the spiciest chips known to mankind.
"Interesting selection," she said.
Natsu broke out into a smile, "Thanks."
He looked back at the chips and turned to her, "Get something for yourself."
"You sure?"
He nodded, "It's on the frats credit card."
Lucy was taken aback, "They have a credit card?"
"Yup," he went back to scanning the chips, "Well actually, I don't know who it belongs to, but they use it to fund their parties. Do you like Doritos?"
"I'm more of a Sun Chips type of gal," she reached for their original flavor.
"Noted," Natsu took the cart and they headed towards the registers.
Lucy decided that she did not want their drive back to be awkward.
"Let's tell each other some basic facts about each other," Lucy started, "My favorite color is pink, I'm 21. I like stargazing, I want to be an author, and I have an obsession with smoothie bowls."
"Oh, hey my hair is pink," Natsu jokes, which earned an eye roll from Lucy. "My favorite color is red, I'm 22. I have a cat named Happy, my favorite song happens to be Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and sometimes I wish I was a wizard."
Lucy lightly slapped his bicep, "No way in hell is that your favorite song."
Natsu shrugged, "It's true. Lucy being your name is just a coincidence."
She side-eyed him for a moment, "Prove it."
They pulled up to a red light and Natsu unlocked his phone before giving it to Lucy, "Go on my Spotify."
Lucy did as she was told.
"Now look for the 'your top songs of the year' playlist"
This earned a small gasp from Lucy, "Told you," she could hear his smirk.
"I was named after that song." She states.
"No fucking way,"
Lucy wiggled in her seat with excitement, "I know! That's why I didn't believe you, such a creepy coincidence."
Before they knew it, they were pulling up in front of the Sabertooth frat house. Sting and Yukino helped them unload Natsu's trunk.
"You seem smitten," Yukino whispered to Lucy.
Lucy playfully bumped her friend since her hands were currently occupied, "Not even."
"Whatever you say," Yukino teased.
After they were done, Sting forced Natsu and Lucy into a group hug, "You guys are the best."
He finally released them and scanned the kitchen, "Tonight will be a movie."
The party was in full swing and Lucy would be lying if she denied that she was tipsy. She was impressed that she was only tipsy because she started day drinking. She was smart about it though, so she stuck with wine coolers. Cana was finally at the party too, but Lucy knew it was only because Bacchus was busy being a bartender. She somehow ended up chilling up against the wall with Cana and Natsu.
Cana reached up to touch Natsu's hair, "Is it natural?"
Natsu lightly swatted her hand away, "That's for me to know and everyone else to wonder."
"I bet Lucy knows," Cana smirked, turning to look at her friend.
Lucy felt her face heat up, "Cana! Don't be such a pervert!"
"Well, is it?" Cana asked, not caring that Lucy was flustered.
Lucy mumbled something before composing herself, "I don't remember the details of that night." That was a lie, it's been the best she had since her ex.
Cana straightened up from leaning against the wall, "Lame. I'm gonna go look for shmuck to fool into a drinking competition. Later love birds."
Natsu and Lucy watched her walk away. "You need a reminder?" Natsu asked turning back to Lucy.
Lucy took a drink from her mojito to calm herself, "I have a rule, I don't sleep twice with a one-night stand. You know then it won't be much of a one-night stand."
Natsu suddenly raised his hand resting it next to Lucy's head and leaned it, "Clearly this is more than just a one-night stand."
"Really," Lucy cocked her head, "Guess you're on your own there."
Natsu scuffed, he mumbled something that Lucy wasn't able to make out. His mood had turned sour and Lucy didn't want to deal with it so she walked away to find Yukino.
Finding Yukino took her longer than expected, the house was bigger than a regular apartment so there was a bigger radius she had to check. She found Yukino next to Sting, of course, in the basement of the house playing beer-pong against another couple.
"Hey," She walked up to Yukino who was waiting for the girl sporting a princess haircut to toss the ball.
"Oh, hey Lucy! How's it going?" Yukino asked, not taking her eyes off the game.
Lucy sighed, "A little uneventful, but it's going."
Yukino frowned and turned towards Sting who heard Lucy's comment, "Play flippy cup with us after this round," Sting interrupted.
Lucy found out that she was surprisingly good at flippy cup. Yukino, Sting, and a girl named Minerva were on her team.
"You're good at this," Minerva complimented her.
Lucy shot a smile at her, "Thanks! You are too."
It wasn't very long for Lucy to go from being tipsy to being drunk, "Guys I'm tapping out. If I keep going, I might end up puking my guts out!"
Lucy wasn't sure if it was the "Irish courage" the whiskey gave her or whether she had enough of avoiding the big elephant in the room. She could only hope that Natsu was still here. Luckily, she found him in the living room talking to some black-haired guy.
"Hey," she extended her hand.
He stared at it for a second before taking it and she dragged him outside.
Once they were outside, they kept walking. She didn't say anything until they were down the block from the house, "I'm sorry ok, it's just this is weird. I've never been in this situation before."
Natsu stepped in front of her looking her dead in eyes, "It's ok, it's weird for me too."
She couldn't help but laugh at their situation, "Glad to know I'm not alone."
Lucy was glad she was able to finally tell him what was going on with her. She didn't want to leave off on a sour mood, especially because she was the rude one. She couldn't help herself! It's been her attitude towards men for two years already. Thankfully Natsu seemed to understand. Their cute moment was cut short by a stumbling Cana in the distance.
"Luuuuucy, is that you?"
Lucy went to meet up with a very drunk Cana, "Yeah, it's me."
"I won," Cana flashed a wad of cash before shoving it back into her purse and slumping into Lucy.
"Woah there," Lucy tried her best to steady her only to be reminded that she too was drunk. She looked over to Natsu who was already a step ahead of her and slung one of Cana's arm over his shoulders.
"I can handle myself," Cana protested, and she stumbled some more.
"You sure?" Lucy asked.
Cana unhinged herself from both Lucy and Natsu, "Yes, now let me go! Walk with me though."
Lucy took the opportunity to text Yukino that she and Cana had left.
"So," Natsu started, "What'd you think of a Sabertooth party?"
"They're interesting. Not as wild as I thought it'd be." Which wasn't a lie. Sabertooth was a frat, but it wasn't a stereotypical one. The members were interesting, and Lucy's favorite part was that they weren't creeps.
Their walk back to Yukino's place was filled with Cana telling them how she ended up with $500. Guys didn't like being told that she could out drink them, so when she made a bet they'd fall for her trick. Poor guys didn't know that Cana's liver was made of steel.
Lucy opened the front door, Cana pushed through both of them, walked into Yukino's room and fell face-first into the bed.
"Well this is us," Lucy informed him.
"It was nice seeing you again, Lucy."
Lucy nodded, "Yeah, you too. Will you be with Sting this whole weekend?"
"Yeah, so don't get freaked out if you see me again."
Natsu was at the bottom of the stairs when Lucy called out, "Hey, you wanna stay the night? There's a sofa and it's comfortable."
Natsu rocked on the ball of his feet before caving in, "Sure." He followed Lucy inside.
A/N: Not going to lie I procrastinated writing this chapter so instead I wrote 2 one-shots lol. Anyways, she's here and she's cute if I do say so myself. If Lucy seems like a bitch, I'm sorry ok? This won't be that much of a slow burn, but I definitely don't want to rush into things because realistically that's now how it would happen. Also, I re-watched the GMG arc and ugh it reminded me of why I love Natsu so much. And why he's my #1 husbando and why I even have a body pillow with him on it hahaha. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, see ya in the next one.