Chapter Text
Mira
She was cleaning the guildhall when she saw Lucy entering. She was wrapped in a coat and clearly unhappy; she all but threw herself at a table and removed the outer layer of her clothes. Her top was covered in what looked like dirt and blood, her hair tangled and dirty and wet. She groaned and leaned back in her seat, her back meeting the wall. Before Mira could ask her anything, Natsu burst through the entrance, covered in even more dirt and blood, and he made a beeline for where Lucy sat, a frown replacing his usual smile.
“What the hell, Luce?! You left us behind!”
Lucy glared at him. She didn’t reply; she simply turned her head away, starting to take dirt out from under her nails. Mira stopped cleaning, centering her attention on the duo.
That was interesting.
Natsu huffed and sat next to her. No matter that they were fighting, the guild had gotten used to their little squabbles; it was one of the few times a displeased Natsu didn’t translate to a brawl in the guildhall.
“Are you still mad?” He asked lowly. Lucy didn’t reply, “Happy already apologized, Luce.”
Lucy turned to look at him, she al but hissed her reply. “You haven’t.”
“I didn’t have anything to do this time,” Natsu groaned, looking at the table.
“You didn’t stop him.”
“I couldn’t have! He was out the window before either of us noticed!”
“Because you were distracting me!”
“I am pretty sure you were distracting me, too!”
“That’s beside the point!” Lucy snapped, turning her head away from him and placing her hands on her lap. Natsu groaned and dropped his head on the table, hands to his side. “Why did you even give him the whole reward?”
“You said it’d be safer with him, since his fish bag didn’t get damaged.”
Lucy pouted. “I did not.”
“Did too.” Natsu turned his head to look at her. His hands went under the table as he pursed his lips and stared at Lucy. “How could I have known he’d spend it all in fucking rainbow fish?”
Lucy deflated, the anger leaving her as she turned to look at him, dissatisfaction still evident, but the anger from before had left her face. “It’s happy.”
“Still.” Natsu closed his eyes.
Lucy sighed, undoing her ponytail and letting her hair fall. She had been letting it grow, now reaching almost her waist. She pulled a comb from her coat’s pocket and started working on the knots.
“Gimme,” Natsu said after a few minutes, sitting straight and getting a leg over the side of the bench.
Lucy looked at him and handed him the comb, imitating him and leaning back into his embrace. Natsu started to comb Lucy’s hair slowly and carefully, his hand running through the brushed strands of golden hair, getting a faint cloud of steam out of them.
The moment was so… natural, so them.
Mira stayed looking for a little longer, she watched as Lucy relaxed and started to talk to Natsu about how they were gonna have to take at least four missions now because the money would’ve lasted them until the end of the month. Natsu hummed in response, too focused on not burning her hair.
“I get to pick all the jobs, by the way,” Lucy commented at some point.
Natsu nodded. “Fine… but no train rides.”
“Okay.”
Mira shook her head and smiled fondly at them, turning back to her work.
Two hours later, she found them still sitting in the same spot, now shifted. Natsu was resting his head on Lucy’s lap, and she was wearing his scarf, her hair curled and perfectly dry. It looked fabulous, if you were to ignore the little dirt that was tangled in some of the curls Natsu had made.
They looked so peaceful.
Mira gushed over them a little, taking pictures with her lacrima before she decided to let them rest. She noticed the small furball that was on the other side of Lucy. Happy looked haggard, tired… honestly, a little beaten.
Still, he was there, safe, and with Lucy’s hand on his tiny head.
Mira walked back to the bar, not bothering them, and turned back just in time to catch a very sleepy Lucy open her eyes. She looked around in a daze and smiled the moment she saw the still slumbering Natsu. She leaned down and placed a small kiss on his nose. Before drifting back to sleep.
Mira gaped, blinked, and finally screamed.
Cana
Being the guild’s resident drunk, Cana had some perks when it came to the guild parties; one such perk was being the first to get the newest gossip.
She had been perfectly content teasing Juvia and Wendy about their developing relationships with the Ice wizard and the God slayer, respectively, when Lissana came running with eyes shining like a cat’s that just got a new toy.
“You won’t believe what’s happening!” She whispered-screamed when she got close, and without waiting for an answer, turned and pointed towards the other end of the bar.
Now, Fairy Tail was anything but ordinary, so Cana was ready to witness any weirdness possible. Maybe it was a monster that had gotten into the guild, some of the guys having another ridiculous fight, Erza beating the shit out of anyone for whatever reason, hell, she even expected to see her dad.
Yet, she wasn’t prepared for the scene she found.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” A girl she didn’t recognize was all but begging while pulling Natsu’s—Yes, that Natsu—hand. “I assure you you’ll have a great time,” she added with a wink.
Cana spat her drink at how obvious this girl was flirting with the guild’s most destructive force. She even rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but nope, she was actually watching some random girl trying to take Natsu out.
And not in a fight.
“I already told you,” Natsu said, exasperation dripping from his voice, “not interested.”
The girl didn’t seem to care that Natsu was not responding to her advances, she flicked her black hair over he shoulder, exposing her neck and—whoah, she had a choker with Natsu’s scarf design—smiling as if she wasn’t being clearly rejected.
“Please!” she continued pleading, her voice syrupy. Natsu tried to pull away, but the girl wasn’t having it, all but jumping to his side and hugging his arm. “I know I can make it worth your while. You don’t have anything to do, right?”
“I do, actually.” Natsu pulled himself away from her and tried to put some distance between them. “I got plans.”
“Nothing you can’t reschedule.”
“Pretty sure you don’t decide that.”
The girl seemed to be losing her patience. “Please, what could be so important that it can’t wait until you have dinner with me?”
Cana usually respected persistent people; she liked someone who didn’t give up easily, but even then, this woman was pushing her luck way too much. It was actually a miracle that Natsu hadn’t burnt her already, like all the guys Lucy complained he left covered in burns for flirting with her.
Natsu covered his face with a hand. “Lady-”
“Erina.” The girl interrupted.
“Erina,” Natsu amended, lowering his hand, “I don’t know you, am not interested in having dinner with you. Please, leave me alone, I got plans.”
The girls around Cana all nodded, and she couldn’t help the little whistle that escaped her. Natsu being direct and polite was a first, but then again, she supposed that all that time with Lucy was rubbing off on him.
“I want us to get to know each other, tho?” She pressed and leaned closer, her back now facing the Cana’s group and-
Whoah that blouse with an open back showing the dragon tattoo really startled her.
The girl pressed closer, and Cana could picture how she was trying to use her cleavage to tempt Natsu into agreeing. That may have worked on anyone else, but this was Natsu Dragneel; he had faced way more endowed women in way less clothing and felt absolutely nothing.
“Can we at least meet another time?”
Natsu crossed his arm, little sparks leaving his mouth as he sighed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why? I don’t see a girlfriend anywhere.”
Cana saw Natsu about to respond when someone else beat her to it.
“Turn around.”
The venom in that voice made everyone shudder, everyone except Natsu. Cana’s head snapped to her left, and she found Lucy glaring daggers at the girl, who was dressed in a pair of jeans Levy and Cana had given her a couple of weeks back, along with a pink top. She was dressed like any other day, her keys and her whips hanging from her belt.
But she looked terrifying.
Erina turned around to look at who had talked, and her face drained of color when she met the blonde’s eyes.
Lucy tilted her head. “Now you see her.”
Natsu smiled as Lucy walked towards them, allowing her to stand next to him, visibly relaxing in her presence. The black-haired girl finally stopped smiling and frowned, taking a step back.
“Who are you?”
“I’m his partner,” Lucy replied seamlessly, looking the other woman from her boots to the choker. Cana swore she saw Lucy growl when she saw it. “And you are?”
“Erina,” the girl reintroduced herself, “I was asking Natsu if he would have dinner with me.”
Lucy looked at Natsu, and he shook his head quickly, the same way he did when Erza stopped a fight between him and Gray. Lucy smiled and turned back to Erina.
“He said no.”
Erina bit her lip. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be tonight-”
“Sorry, I think there’s been a miscommunication,” Lucy cut in, leaning closer to Erina, a dangerous glint in her eyes. “He… Said... No.”
Erina sputtered, the guild stilled, Natsu smiled and covered his mouth trying—and failing—to stifle a laugh.
It took maybe ten seconds for Erina to huff, eyes watery as she strutted out of the guildhall. She took one last look at where Natsu and Lucy were standing, and then left. The guild slowly got back to its usual noise level. Cana sighed and looked at her beer.
She downed it in one swing and proceeded to get another round.
“Can’t believe her,” she heard Lucy say, and turned to look at her. The celestial wizard turned to look at Natsu. “Why the fuck didn’t you do something?”
“Hey, I tried!” Natsu raised both hands in surrender. “She wasn’t taking a no for an answer.”
“You could’ve pushed her away.”
“You told me not to hurt civilians.”
“Now you are gonna listen to me?!”
“I’ve been listening for the past two months, tho?!”
Lucy crossed her arms and sighed, looking at her feet. “Can’t believe I had to save you.”
“Thanks, by the way,” Natsu said, and Lucy looked up at him. “For the assist, I was so close to burning her hair off.”
That got Lucy to chuckle. “Aw, missed the show, maybe I shouldn’t have intervened, then.”
“We would’ve missed movie night tonight,” Natsu replied, “ city guards and all that, y’know, ‘assaulting a civilian’.”
“True,” Lucy nodded and took his hand, dragging him away. “Best result, then.”
Long after they left and the tension had run out, did Cana realize…
Did Lucy call herself Natsu’s girlfriend?