5. Grandeeney
Lucy walked out of the school beside Natsu, letting out a long sigh. The boy at her side chuckled as she slumped over, both physically and mentally exhausted.
"Regretting not taking that nap during Gildarts's class?" he taunted. She only groaned in response. Natsu laughed again, but it was cut short when a dark shadow passed over him. Lucy—noticing his uncharacteristic silence—straightened up and turned to see Natsu backing away from Laxus.
"Oh, hi Laxus," Lucy sighed, covering her mouth as she yawned. Her cousin pulled away from the pinkette and focused his intense eyes on her. She got the feeling he was scanning her for injuries. She frowned but kept still until the inspection was over. "Am I going home with you?"
"Well you're not walking home," he replied gruffly, seemingly satisfied. He cracked a small smile. "I doubt you can even find the restroom in the school, let alone your way back home."
"She couldn't find the restroom," Natsu agreed, ignoring the glare Lucy shot at him. "Erza had to help her—twice—and I had to when Erza wasn't there. Do you know how awkward it is to stand outside the girls bathroom? Everyone looked at me like I was some sort of pervert."
"For the best," Laxus nodded while Natsu gaped at him. Lucy giggled behind her hand, turning away when Natsu shot her a wounded look. "Did you have any more problems?"
"Nope," Lucy assured him proudly.
"Not yet," Natsu added in dubiously, frowning and crossing his arms. "That bastard is still in our classes."
"I trust you to deal with that problem. Of course, only if it needs to be dealt with," the blonde said, glaring pointedly at Natsu.
"'No starting up unnecessary fights'. I know already, alright?" He grumbled, looking down with a pout. Lucy had a feeling it really upset him to be told off from fighting.
"I'm glad," Laxus said. He paused, giving Natsu one last long look before his attention turned on Lucy. "Are you ready to go home now?"
"Um yeah, but can I ask where my backpack is?" Lucy questioned.
"In the car," Laxus waved it away and turned towards the parking lot. Lucy started after him before stopping and looking back at Natsu.
"Do you need a ride home, Natsu?" She asked curiously. Natsu glanced at her with raised eyebrows, smiling.
"I thought I told you I'm no good with cars?" He questioned. Lucy blinked at him before blushing.
"O-oh. No I'm-I'm sorry. I completely forgot I—"
"Relax, Luce! It's cool," he chuckled, "I've got basketball club now anyway. Don't worry about me."
"You play basketball?" She asked stupidly.
"Hmm? Yup!" He agreed, giving her a small wave as he started to turn. "You can watch me some time, but I think if you stay any longer than Laxus will come here and beat me up!"
"Huh?!" Lucy turned and flinched when she saw her cousin staring at them impatiently from the front window of his chevy. She gulped and started forward, waving towards Natsu. "I'd love to see you play some time. Sorry for keeping you."
"That's my line, Weirdo," he laughed, shaking his head. "I'm looking forward to it."
Lucy ignored the way his words made shivers go up her back and waved once again before entering the car. Her cousin didn't say anything as she buckled in, or even when they pulled out of the parking lot. Lucy used the time to take note of the turns they made. She wanted to be used to her new home as soon as she could.
"Dump that thing out," Laxus commanded, dropping her backpack on the table in front of her. Lucy jumped at the thud the bag made as it connected with the wood and glanced at her cousin uncertainly.
"Why?" She questioned, slowly unzipping the top.
"Because you don't need half that crap and I'm sick of having to carry it around all day," he told her emotionlessly, settling down onto a chair and pulling out his own homework.
"You know you didn't have to carry it around with you. You were the one who took it from me," Lucy reminded him.
"Did you think you could carry it around?" He snorted. Lucy rolled her eyes with a sigh and began to pull out the multitude of colorful folders from the bag. She felt bad for disposing of the things that Mira so considerably got her, but she knew that there was no way she was going to be able to cart around that bag all day, and she couldn't rely on Laxus forever.
"Do you have a lot of problems with bars at school?" Lucy asked after a few minutes of silence. Laxus finished writing his sentence and looked up at her with eyes that clearly asked why she was bothering herself with this stuff. Lucy huffed out a breath of annoyance. "You do realize that I'm now going to this school, a member a Fairy Tail, your cousin, and grandpa's granddaughter? I think I should know what's going on."
"There's a lot you won't understand; there's stuff even I don't understand," he warned her. Lucy shrugged and the blonde sighed in defeat. "Well most of the fights tend to happen at the school, but Magnolia high is a combination of the more...agreeable, bars in the area. There's another high school nearby thats full of troubled students. The whole school causes us problems; bar members or no."
"Balam high, right?" Lucy murmured, tapping her chin. Laxus coughed in surprise.
"How do you know that?" He asked, eyes narrowing. "You didn't run into anyone right?"
"No, no," she sighed and waved her hands. "You're such a worrywart, Lax. Natsu told me about it."
"I'm going to end that boy," Laxus growled, his face darkening and Lucy swore she could see a dark aura going from his back. She swallowed and jumped up quickly, shaking her head.
"No! I mean, yes, he told me about it, but he already made it clear that I'm not allowed to go there. He said I can only go there if I have you or him with me," she insisted desperately. Laxus was silent for a moment before he let out a long breath and his darkness seemed to seep away.
"I'm correcting that statement. You're only allowed to go to Balam High if you have me or Erza with you, understood?" He gave her a steely look, his face serious. "No other exceptions."
"Why Erza? Why is it that you don't trust Natsu?" Lucy frowned, crossing her arms. She didn't know why her cousin was so against her being with the pink haired boy. Sure, he could be violent, but it'd already been made clear that he had no intention of hurting Lucy. Besides that, Natsu was strong and determined to keep her safe. She didn't understand why her cousin was so desperate to keep her away from someone who so obviously wasn't going to cause her harm.
"It's not that I don't trust the idiot," Laxus began, rubbing his face tiredly. "It's that I don't trust him not to bring in trouble. He likes attention; he's a fool for the spotlight, and he attracts it like a magnet. He's no good for you to be around."
"...Alright," Lucy agreed reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I'm staying away from him. You've already agreed to let him teach me and I want to be friends with him. I like him."
"You like to make dangerous friends," Laxus sighed.
"Don't you remember; everyone from Fairy Tail is dangerous," she joked lightly. Laxus looked at her before shaking his head.
"I'm going to correct that statement as well; everyone from this town is dangerous."
"I'll remember that," Lucy promised, sitting down.
"You better."
It was later into the evening—just as the sky was changing from blue to rosy pink—when Lucy got a text. She was sitting outside on the porch swing, enjoying a glass of tea, and nearly spilled the thing on herself when her phone suddenly went off.
"Shit," Lucy hissed, rubbing at the dark stain the spilled tea left on the swing. She knew it'd dry clean, but the thought that she'd already ruined her Grandpa's furniture made her feel guilty. Three days and already she was staining them.
She sighed when her antics became futile and decided to leave it to nature. She turned instead and grabbed her phone, opening it to see who the message was from.
Lucy had gotten quite a few numbers over that past few days. She had Erza, Mira, Laxus—of course—,Lisanna, Kina, and even Gray. The number on her phone however was unknown. The sender was clear after reading it.
Wanna come meet the fam?
The message was simple and confusing, but Lucy could tell it was Natsu right away. She smiled down and quickly added him into her contacts, just for future reference. Instead of answering back, she stood up and turned towards her neighbors house. She couldn't see him from her position, but she was sure he was watching.
Laxus had left an hour earlier to go meet her Grandpa at Fairy Tail. He'd offered to take her along—demanded was more like it—but she had refused under presences of being tired. She hadn't been lying either; a full day of school and learning had left her exhausted, but for some reason the thought of seeing Natsu perked her up. Really, just the thought of Natsu set her nerves on end.
Considering there was no one home to miss her presence, Lucy ducked inside and grabbed her keys, locking the door behind her as she exited. She climbed down the porch steps and followed the path to the sidewalk. She glanced at Natsu's house, noticed the silver car in the driveway, and thought she saw something move from the corner of her eye. She looked and saw the curtain move, as if someone had been peering out. She couldn't help the small smile that rose to her face.
Lucy slipped past the silver toyota and jumped up the steps of Natsu's porch. She had just pressed the doorbell when the door swung open. Lucy smiled, expecting Natsu, but was surprised to see a little girl in front of her instead.
"Oh, hello," she said lamely, her cheeks heating embarrassedly. Why was she so sure that it had been Natsu watching out for her, ready to greet her as soon as she arrived. Thinking back on it made her feel stupid and frankly it'd be a bit creepy. "Who are you?"
"You're Luce, right?" The girl asked, ignoring her question. Lucy frowned and studied the girl carefully. She was sure this had to be Natsu's little sister—Wendy, she remembered—but the girl looked nothing like her brother at all. She was all skin and bones, pale white skin, long dark blue hair, and giant brown eyes that reminded Lucy startlingly of puppies. Overall she was just one big bundle of adorable. Quite the opposite of her strawberry-haired brother.
"Uh, yeah, thats me?" Lucy replied uncertainly. Had the girl said 'Luce'? Hadn't Natsu called her that earlier?
"Wow!" The girl gushed, undeterred. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in the light. "You're even prettier than I thought!" She reached forward, grabbing Lucy's hands tightly. Her expression suddenly turned serious. "Is my brother threatening you or something? Is that why you're hanging out with him? It's okay, I can help you."
"W-what?" Lucy stammered, confused.
"All right thats enough!" Natsu suddenly appeared, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and pulling her backwards. Wendy's grip on her hands slipped away, as did the serious expression she wore as she burst into giggles.
"I can't believe this is your friend, Nats! She's waaaaay prettier than you said she was!" Wendy cheered, smiling innocently. Natsu's face twitched at the nickname, but his whole body seemed to freeze when Wendy finished. Lucy also felt herself stiffen.
"Seriously Wen, don't you have homework to do?" Natsu grumbled, pushing the blue haired girl back into the house. Wendy let out a protest, but Natsu cut her off as he stepped out onto the porch, slamming the door behind him. It was silent for a long moment, the two of them awkwardly standing in front of his door.
"Uh, sorry about her," Natsu started, stepping back and leaning against the wall. "She gets excited around new people."
"I take it that's Wendy?" Lucy asked, glancing at him. His hair was wet—from a shower, no doubt—and spiked in all different ways, as if he'd run a towel through it really quickly. Said towel was wrapped around his neck, preventing his shirt from getting wet. The sunset was also creating a glow around his head, making him look even more unreal. Lucy felt her heart speed up.
"Unfortunately," Natsu confirmed, running a hand through his hair. "Ignore her please. I'm pretty sure it's her life goal to make mine miserable."
"She seems sweet," Lucy fought. She smirked. "Besides, I'd love to hear all the embarrassing things she knows about you."
"Oh no, you don't," Natsu assured her, shaking his head. Lucy smelled the strong scent of cinnamon again. She wondered if it was natural or some sort of cologne.
"So," she said awkwardly. She motioned to the porch. "Are we going to be spending the rest of the night out here or what?"
"Well, we could," Natsu smirked. Lucy ignored the butterflies, giving him an unconvinced glare. He relented with a sigh. "Fine, fine. I guess you'll meet them sooner or later."
"May I remind you that you're the one who asked me to come over?" She giggled, following him as he opened the door. He held it open for her, and she carefully ducked under his arm.
"May I remind you that you're the one who wanted to meet my crazy family?" He returned, shutting the door behind her. He bumped it with his hand to make sure it was firmly closed and followed after her. The hallway was just as Lucy remembered it from her quick glances. The only difference was the smell of chicken in the air.
"Touché," Lucy agreed, sliding off her shoes. Natsu smiled at her and grabbed her arm after she was done. She squeaked as he dragged her through the hall, past his living room, and into the kitchen.
"Just as you remember it, right?" He asked, releasing her and leaning against the counter. The kitchen still had the same yellow wallpaper and white tiled floor, but everything was cleaned and practically sparkling under the florescent light. "Did it all myself."
"Wow," she said, gazing around with wide eyes. "I have trouble believing that you did this."
"Good, because he didn't."
Lucy jumped and even Natsu mumbled out a soft exclamation. She whipped around and spotted a young woman in the doorway, smiling. She looked exactly like Wendy, from the blue hair all the way to the big dark eyes. Hers looked less puppyish though; more experienced. They didn't carry the same innocence as Wendy's.
"Mom," Natsu recovered quickly, moving forward. He grabbed his Mom's arm gently and turned towards Lucy. "This is Lucy. She's Gramps's granddaughter."
"How many times have I told you to call him Mr. Marakov?" The woman lectured, slapping Natsu's hand away. He backed up quickly. Lucy had to fight the urge to laugh. "It's impolite to talk about your elders in such a way. Why, I should give you a smacking young man."
"Sorry, Ma'am," he replied sullenly, bowing his head. Lucy thought he looked like a child, and he was getting scolded like one too. She was unable to keep a small giggle from escaping her mouth. Grandeeney picked up on it quickly, her head snapping towards Lucy as if this were the first time noticing her. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned Lucy. Lucy felt herself go stiff under the critical gaze.
"My, Natsu," Grandeeney sighed, folding her arms. "Who'd ever thought you would reel in such a pretty one."
"Mom!" Natsu whined, looking more annoyed than embarrassed. Lucy, on the other hand, felt her face heat up. She was sure she looked like a tomato. "Lucy is just a friend! I only met her the other day."
"Romeo and Juliet only knew each other a day," she reminded him proudly. Natsu looked horrified.
"Romeo and Juliet also died," Lucy cut in. They both looked at her. She felt suddenly bad for saying anything, but a moment later Grandeeney gave her a bright smile.
"That they did," she agreed happily. Lucy glanced at Natsu for help but he looked resigned. "What did you say your name was, Dear?"
Lucy straightened up. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Dragneel."
Grandeeney stared at her for a moment before smiling even larger. "Marakov's granddaughter, hmm? I'm happy to say that the pleasure is mine, Dear."
"I thought we're supposed to address our elders with respect?" Natsu asked with a smile.
"Stop being such a smart-ass and go check on the chicken," Grandeeney dead-panned. Natsu sighed, nodding his head and walking toward the stove with his head held low. Lucy giggled under her breath and Grandeeney looked at her. Her gaze was softer than before, almost kind. "You came from Crocus, isn't that right?"
"Yes, I only arrived here three days ago," Lucy agreed, sighing. "It feels like months."
"Time moves quickly here," Grandeeney agreed, and Lucy thought there was an almost sad tone in her voice. She wanted to ask what she meant, but at that moment Natsu yelled and the smoke detector went off.
"Shit!" Lucy heard Natsu and turned to watch as he pulled open the oven. Black smoke billowed out, filling the air and she coughed, turning away.
"Bloody hell," Grandeeney sighed, moving towards the source of the black smoke. "Honestly Natsu, why can't you just—Ah! No, put down the chicken! Put it down, put it down! You'll burn yourself! Natsu put the damned chicken down!"
"I'm very sorry about all the commotion, Lucy," Grandeeney apologized again. "Usually we don't let Natsu near dinner since he has the, um...tendency to burn things." she cast an accusing glance at him over her shoulder. Natsu glared back. She was the one who asked him to check on the damn chicken! Why was she getting so pissed at him for?
"It's alright, really," Lucy assured her, smiling nervously. Natsu was afraid that just ten minutes among his family was already enough to scare her away. He wouldn't have blamed her; seventeen years with this family and he still wasn't used to it. Everyday seemed to hold some new adventure, both good and bad. Two days ago it had been tackling a pretty blonde stranger by mistake, and then befriending her—a pretty good thing in his opinion. Today it was nearly setting his house on fire while introducing her to his family—not so good.
"You wouldn't mind staying, would you? We can order some Chinese. I hate the thought of sending you back to Marakov on an empty stomach." Natsu knew she really didn't care that Lucy didn't get to eat—she sent him off to school with half a granola bar plenty of times—but something told him she really did care if Lucy left. Natsu didn't know what had happened when he'd been checking on the chicken, but something had changed in the time he'd been gone. His mother had seemed hesitant to meet Lucy earlier, and even more so after actually meeting her, but suddenly she didn't want her leave? Girls made no sense to him at all. All he knew was that for some magical reason his Mom liked Lucy, and for that he was thankful. He just wondered how Lucy felt about his mom.
For a moment, Natsu was afraid she was going to deny, but then Lucy smiled. It was the same smile she'd given him in the kitchen after she first met him. He remembered thinking that as long as she was smiling like that, then everything was all right. It was the first time he'd noticed how pretty she really was.
"I'm sure that'd be fine. Thank you," she said. Grandeeney seemed caught off guard. She stared at Lucy blankly before nodding and turning away. Lucy stared after her uncertainly and Natsu pushed off the wall, walking toward her.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier," he apologized, touching her shoulder gently. She turned toward him with the same smile, reassuring him without saying anything.
"There's really nothing to apologize for," she informed him.
"That smoke nearly killed you," he told her.
"Like you had anything to do with the smoke," she brushed his concern away.
"I caused it!"
"No, the chicken caused it," she corrected with a shake of her head. "What a rotten chicken."
Natsu stared at her for a long moment. She stared back stoically, her face serious and unwavering. After a moment he couldn't take it anymore and began laughing. Lucy jumped in surprise as he bent forward, clutching his stomach, chuckling.
"What's so funny?" she demanded, crossing her arms and pouting. Natsu thought with distraction that she looked cute. He shook the thought off, straightening up.
"You are," he said, smiling. Lucy frowned. "You're such a crazy person it's amazing!"
"I'm not sure how to take that," she admitted uncertainly.
"Compliment," he said, rubbing his eyes. "It was a compliment."
"Ah! Natsu!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed, leaning forward and grabbing his hand. He startled as her soft fingers wrapped around his wrist, turning it palm-side up. He noticed a moment too late what she was doing. By then she had already seen it and was staring, wide-eyed. "Natsu...did you burn yourself?" Her eyes rose to meet his slowly, steadily.
"No," he dragged out, trying to pry his hand away. Her fingers were like vices, locked around him and unrelenting. He gave up after a moment, not wanting to hurt her.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, clenching his hand tighter. Natsu cringed as white hot pain shot up his arm. She released her grip quickly and frowned at his hand. "Come with me. Where's your medicine cabinet?"
"Luce seriously, it's fine," he tried. She looked horrified.
"You're burned Natsu! Nothing about that is fine," she put so much spite in the words that he felt himself cringe. Lucy didn't seem to notice, turning and running out of the room, calling for his mother.
Lucy returned a few minutes later, medicine bin in hand. "Sit down," she commanded, nodding her head towards the couch. Natsu sighed and sat down with a humph. Lucy ignored him and sat beside him, setting the box on the table. He kept silent as she pulled out different supplies.
"Alright," she said finally, picking up a bottle. "Hold out your hands." Natsu complied, bringing his hand up in front of her, palm down. He gave her a smile as she glared. She reached forward, jerking his hand upwards. Natsu hissed under his breath and caught a slight bit of regret in her brown eyes before she sprayed his hands.
The spray was cold and smelled like alcohol. It stung a little but he refused to say anything about it. It wasn't like Lucy could take away the pain and she looked angry enough as it was. He didn't know why she was angry; it was only a burn, not a stab wound.
"Aren't I supposed to run it under cold water?" He asked her as she set the bottle down and pulled out a tube of cream. She smeared it on the red parts of his hands, carefully. It was even colder than the spray, but it countered the heat racing under his skin.
"You're supposed to do that to get the heat out of the burn, but it doesn't work unless you do it right away," she gave him a pointed look.
"I'm sorry that my kitchen caught on fire and I was more concerned about you than my hands," he dead-panned. Lucy blinked at him in shock. Her face turned red and she quickly turned away, grabbing the bandages.
It was true. Natsu had gotten burned before, and he knew well enough that cold water was the first thing you wanted to get to. So he didn't understand why Lucy had been the only thing on his mind. His body had reacted even faster; by the time he realized he had burned himself, he'd already had Lucy's arm and was dragging her from the room.
"You don't have to worry about me," she said quietly, placing the wrap between his thumb and first finger. Natsu looked up at her curiously but her eyes were trained on her work. "I'm a big girl, I can deal with a little fire."
"And didn't I say I'd protect you?" He said, then froze. Lucy also froze, looking up at him with wide eyes and parted lips. He hadn't meant to say that, not at all. "I mean I promised Laxus I'd protect you, you know?"
"Uh, yeah," she breathed out. She smiled quickly, ducking her head and turning back to wrapping his hands. Natsu had to fight the urge to smash his head into the table. Lucy tended to make him feel like doing that a lot lately.
They sat in silence until Lucy finished tying up the last bandage. "All done!" She proclaimed happily, pulling her hands away.
"Thanks Luce," he sighed, standing up.
"No problem! Just don't do it again," she insisted.
"I have a tendency to get burned," he warned her. She rolled her eyes, standing up as well.
"I mean don't ignore your injuries. I won't fix you again if you do," she warned, narrowing her eyes.
"Are you my personal nurse?" He joked. Lucy seemed to take it seriously, eyeing him.
"Well I'm not that great with medicine, but feel free to come to me whenever you get burned!" She said cheerfully. Natsu swallowed thickly.
"Thanks," he said, "I will."
Natsu suddenly felt very awkward. His hands were throbbing from the slowly ebbing heat and he could feel a sweat start at the back of his neck. His stomach twisted uncomfortably and he noticed just how much shorter Lucy was compared to him, how thinner and curvier. He shook his head quickly, ripping the thoughts away and locking them in the basement of his brain. There was no way they were gonna be Romeo and Juliet, he wouldn't allow it.
"Oh, that must be the food," Lucy said as the doorbell rang. "Come on, let's go grab it." She grabbed Natsu's hand carefully and began to drag him towards the door. He felt his cheeks heat up and was surprised to notice the throbbing had stopped.
It turned out Lucy could make the pain disappear after all.
Sorry it took sooooo long to finish, but here it is. A little cutesy chapter for you all to enjoy. I promise to update the next one quicker!
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