#natsus just following orders

[alien-slushie]

Lucy: I've done the math, and the answer is mass genocide.

Natsu: ...Welp, you heard the lady!

[chibimui]

Link to the original tweet: https://twitter.com/kusuriya_ten/status/1818845657505185993

The Apothecary Diaries official twitter account shared a short story that Natsu Hyuga wrote specifically for the account. I decided to translate it and share! It's just a cute casual conversation between Jinshi and Maomao about what they were up to as 10 year olds.

Disclaimer: this is a fan translation, I am in no way a professional and may have made some mistakes. Please do not use this translation elsewhere or claim as your own.

(translation under the cut)

The Apothecary Diaries (Hero Bunko) 10th Year Anniversary Short Story

10 Years Old

“Maomao”, Jinshi called to Maomao. This was after he’d called her in today asking for the details of another random case. Apparently the case was solved after she shared recollections of similar cases, and Basen had been sent to clear things up.

“What is it?”

Maomao drank her tea quickly with the desire to return home to prepare dinner.

“What did you do when you were ten?”

“That’s quite an unexpected question. Wasn’t that the age you began posing as a eunuch?”

“...that was later. I’m just curious what childhood could have led to your personality. Ten is a significant age, but eight or nine is fine too.”

Maomao grunted. “At ten years old things were pretty normal for me. I helped out at the apothecary shop under my adopted father Luomen.”

“Could you be more specific?”

Jinshi had asked Suiren for more tea and was now drinking it.

“That was around the time I was finally given permission to make my own medicines. Before then, I was yelled at for making things on my own, so I was really happy.”

“Don’t make things on your own.”

“Also, the madam taught me to do calculations and I was shocked at how messy my dad’s numbers were. I wondered why we always earned less than we sold, and I learned there was someone who was sick and had no money who he’d always give the medicine away to for free.”

“I see.”

“I followed them and found out they were a dirty little re-seller, so I enlisted one of the male servants and brought them with me to the marketplace to secure a spot. I took back our goods and told other buyers if they wanted stuff for cheaper to buy it directly from us instead.”

“Is that really something a ten year old should be doing?”

While Maomao had been speaking, Suiren had prepared her a new cup of tea and so she remained in her seat.

“If I hadn’t, the madam wouldn’t have given me my dinner.”

“She gave it to you?”

“She put it on my tab.”

There isn’t a single person more stingy than The Madam of the Verdigris House.

“Now I understand why you’re so particular with money.”

“What about you, Master Jinshi? What did you do as a ten year old?”

“Me?”

Jinshi grunted. “I was usually at my mother’s, the Empress Dowager’s, palace. How should I put this. Because of the odd proclivities of the previous Emperor, I was shielded from a lot of things while being raised.”

“I’m sure even a ten-year-old Master Jinshi was already sparkling with beauty as a child and was surely mistaken for a young girl.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not.” Maomao denied such nonsense.

“I was taken care of by my nursemaids, and tutors were called to give me an education. The Ma brothers were my milk siblings, and Gaoshun would occasionally teach me martial arts.”

“I heard that Master Gaoshun was a military official back then.”

“That’s right. Since the Emperor was only the crown prince at the time he was guarded by another member of the Ma family. These were orders from the Empress Regnant and had to be followed, but it was still quite a lot to endure. Still, Gaoshun would occasionally visit the Emperor and make time to see me so he must have been quite busy. I remember frequently hearing him say ‘My daughter hates me’.”

Maomao recalled Mamei to mind and could understand.

“Even so, I couldn’t stay in the palace forever so sometimes they’d let me go outside.”

“Oh?”

“I was told everything is an experience and was brought to military training camps, and during summer retreats I remember having fun jumping down waterfalls. Although I was yelled at afterwards.”

“Summer retreat......, waterfalls. Ugh! H-How were the training camps?” Maomao appeared troubled, and attempted to refocus the topic of conversation.

“The training camps? I would join the soldier's in their regular training routines. This was also arranged by Gaoshun.”

Gaoshun’s paternal influence was strong.

Now that Maomao thought about it, Jinshi had mentioned something similar while eating chicken skewers before.

“Normally I’d only eat meals that had been carefully prepared, so I never realized grilled skewers flavoured with just salt could taste so good.”

Maomao could feel her mouth filling with saliva.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was thinking maybe my dinner can be paired with chicken skewers tonight.”

“Chicken skewers.”

It appeared that Jinshi’s mind had wandered in the same direction as Maomao’s and he held his stomach.

Just then--

“Young Master. Maomao.”

While smiling gently, Suiren appeared holding a large chicken.

“How do you two feel about chicken tonight?”

“Please and thank you!”

“Yes please!”

Both Maomao and Jinshi exclaimed loudly.

[minkyungseokie]

Anime

No Game No Life

Sora and Shiro are two hikikomori stepsiblings who are known in the online gaming world as Blank, an undefeated group of gamers. One day, they are challenged to a game of chess by Tet, a god from another reality. The two are victorious and are offered to live in a world that centers around games.

Blue Exorcist

After discovering that he's the son of Satan, a young man must join the True Cross Academy in order to master his abilities and defeat Satan himself

Naruto

It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village.

One Piece

In a seafaring world, a young pirate captain sets out with his crew to attain the title of Pirate King, and to discover the mythical treasure known as 'One Piece.'

Twin Star Exorcist

The story revolves around Rokuro Enmado and Benio Adashino, a pair of young and talented exorcists, who (according to a prophecy) are destined to marry and have a child that will be the ultimate exorcist.

Jujustu Kaisen

Yuji Itadori, a kind-hearted teenager, joins his school's Occult Club for fun, but discovers that its members are actual sorcerers who can manipulate the energy between beings for their own use. He hears about a cursed talisman - the finger of Sukuna, a demon - and its being targeted by other cursed beings.

Fairy Tail

The series follows the adventures of Natsu Dragneel, a member of the Fairy Tail wizards' guild who is searching for the dragon Igneel, and partners with Lucy Heartfilia, a celestial wizard. 

Play it cool, Guys

A look into the daily lives of four guys who walk the line between unapproachably cool and undeniably clumsy on a regular basis.

Black Butler

Ciel has formed a contract with demon Sebastian Michaelis, who disguises himself as his butler, to seek revenge on those who tortured him and murdered his parents. In exchange for his services, Sebastian will be allowed to consume Ciel's soul.

Uramichi Oniisan

Being an adult is hard. For 31-year-old Uramichi Omota, that depressing truth weighs on him. While on TV, he's an upbeat exercise instructor for a children's show, but sometimes he can't keep his sardonic comments to himself.

Overtake

Freelance photographer Kôya Madoka finds himself in a slump due to a certain reason. He goes to Fuji International Speedway to work on a story, and he meets the highschool F4 racer Haruka Asahina. He suddenly finds his heart racing after not feeling much for a long time.

March Comes in Like a Lion

 It features the life of Rei Kiriyama, an introvert and professional shogi player, who gradually develops both his play and his relationship with others.

The Devil is a Part-Timer

 Hilarity and fun ensues when Satan ends up in modern day Japan without any magic to return, and starts working part time in a fast food joint.

Yowamushi Pedal

Onoda is a cheerful otaku looking to join his new school's anime club, eager to finally make some friends. Unfortunately, the club has been disbanded and somehow he stumbled into the bicycle club.

Tokyo Revengers

Hanagaki Takemichi lives an unsatisfying life right up until his death. Waking up 12 years in the past, he reckons with the eventual fate of his friends and tries to prevent an unfortunate future.

Ouran High School Host Club

One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the boys are and how different they are from everybody else.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles

The story follows Mash Burnedead, a magic-less kid who enrolls at Easton and aims to fool everyone into thinking he's top of the class

IDOLiSH7

An idol group is named "Idolish7," and consists of seven male singers, each with their own unique personality and background. Tsumugi must train and turn all of them into the famous idols, all the while struggling against the hardships of the entertainment industry

Tokyo Ghoul

Set in a world where humans live in constant fear of ghouls - superpowered humanoid beings who feed on human flesh to survive, a shy college student named Kaneki Ken, who is nearly killed in an attack by one of these monsters, becomes a half-ghoul himself after receiving an organ transplant from the ghoul.

Obey Me

The main character is transported to Devildom by a summoning ritual to attend Devildom Academy as a exchange student for one year. The main character will be greeted by seven gorgeous men that are avatars of the deadly sins.

Buddy Daddies

Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa, assassins who live under one roof; and Miri, the daughter of Kazuki and Rei's assassination target who ended up being picked up by Kazuki, who she thinks is her biological father.

SpyxFamily

The story follows a spy who has to "build a family" to execute a mission, not realizing that his adopted daughter is a telepath, and the woman he agrees to marry is a skilled assassin

Haikyuu

Junior high school student, Shoyo Hinata, becomes obsessed with volleyball after catching a glimpse of Karasuno High School playing in the Nationals on TV.

Food Wars

Teenager Soma Yukihira aspires to become a full-time chef in his father Joichiro's family restaurant, "Restaurant Yukihira", and to surpass his father's culinary skills.

My Hero Academia

Born without special powers in a world where 80% of the population has them, Izuku Midoriya still dreams of becoming a hero.

Black Clover

The story follows Asta, a young boy born without any magic power who is given a rare grimoire that grants him anti-magic abilities. With his fellow mages from the Black Bulls, Asta plans to become the next Wizard King.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King

A boy with extraordinary magical powers tries to pass for average at his new high school, where the students learn to cultivate their spiritual force.

Demon Slayer

 A family is attacked by demons and only two members survive - Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko, who is turning into a demon slowly. 

[stardresstaurus]

Recovery Time - A NaLu OneShot

Summary: after a rough battle and the absence of Wendy, Lucy finds it difficult to recover on her own. (also posted on my Wattpad)

This is the first NaLu fic I’ve written since pre-pandemic!

There's a haze among the guild. It's hot, it feels like it's never been warmer. To Lucy, the world has a bit of a shake to it, like the heat is causing the floor and air to boil. She knows that's not the case, however it doesn't keep her from groaning and resting her forehead on the warm, rough surface of the wooden table. She looks down at her thighs and counts the colorful bruises one at a time, the team had returned from a mission the other day but Wendy had been called on to help a group of Magnolia citizens after an attack on the harbor, meaning the group was left to defend for themselves when it came to healing.

She felt some weight place itself next to her at the table. "You okay Lucy," Erza asked her. Erza had managed to be dressed down that day, wearing a t shirt and shorts as she mended her armor.

"Hmm? Yeah, I think so."

"You seem really out of it," Erza stated. She watched Lucy's shoulders slowly rise and fall as her fingers traced a scab on her knee. "I think maybe you should see Porlyusica, something might be wrong." The attention Erza was giving her had been noticed by both Gray and Natsu, who had halted their bickering in order to see what the issue was. When questioned, she simply stated that Lucy was in a daze.

"She's probably just hot," Gray stated, "it is kinda warm out today." Natsu chuckled, hearing Cana make a quip about how the ice boy could actually feel heat, then turning to Juvia saying, "maybe he'll notice the heat you have for him too." Erza placed a hand onto Lucy's shoulder and it was not until the moment when Lucy's body wavered and she had to prop herself up with one of her arms that the rest of the team took the situation seriously.

Natsu took her arm and wrapped it up behind his shoulders, he lifted her as she got to her feet. "C'mon Luce," he said simply. He took her by the arm and helped pull her up onto his back. Lucy didn't have the energy to argue just nodded and said her good-byes to the guild, everyone wishing her well. Happy flew up beside her, concern painted lightly across his face.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"But you're not acting like yourself. Are you hurt that badly?"

"I don't think so," Lucy replied. She thought about it though, maybe she was. But she was so used to getting hurt that the pain was never as bad as it used to be, and she was so used to being healed after a battle that she rarely had to go through a recovery process anymore. Maybe that was the issue, her body wasn't able to recover quickly on its own anymore. "Where are we going?" She asked. Her question had Natsu stop in his tracks.

"I have no idea."

"What do you mean you have no idea?"

"I kinda just assumed we'd end up somewhere."

Lucy groaned, "let's just go to my apartment." The walk there Happy hovered above, continuously asking Lucy questions about how she was doing. She responded as best as she could, but a part of her wanted him to just be quiet, even for a few minutes. She hoped Natsu would say something, but if he said anything it was a question that followed up Happy's. He did fall silent, however, along the river. Lucy rested her cheek against his back and watch the rays of sunlight flicker off the miniature waves of water. Magnolia was quiet this afternoon. Over the sounds of the water flowing against the stone boundaries, she listened to the wooden wheels of carts creek to and from the market. The peacefulness of it all, had Lucy yearning for sleep, despite Natsu's grip on her, keeping her from falling off. On his back, his hands were clenched onto her thighs. If she hadn't been as tired as she was in that moment, she may have tried to shout at him to move his hands. But in this moment, she was happy for the moment of intimacy. It was always easier to be close to him when no one was around.

Not necessarily sexual, no. Really just the feeling of having someone so close, that you cared so much for and who cared so much for you, being able to show that care in more than just words. Words can be faked, but there was some truth in the physical acts. She turned her head so her face was directly on his back. With her eyes closed, she could smell him. He smelled burnt, but not like faded campfire or grilled barbecue like he normally did. It reminded her of a cologne her dad used to wear when her mother was still alive, like sage and bergamot. But there was a spice to him, because of course there was, it was Natsu.

Without much thought she turned her face from the river view into his hair, which felt soft against her skin. She took in a deep breath, cinnamon. With her eyes closed, she nuzzled against him. An act that, if she were in better shape, she would have been embarrassed to do. Normally, she was  determined to hide her affections. Today however was different. Let me have this, she thought. "Lucy?" 

"Hm?" She perked up, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Can I have your key?"

As she dug her key out of her pocket she tried to get off his back, but Natsu tightened his grip. It was a silent disagreement. He carried her up to her apartment, not letting her down until they were inside. Once her feet were on the ground, she trudged to her bathroom, forcing down any feeling of anxiety or embarrassment she had. A bath would help, she told herself.

The boy and the cat had settled themselves on her living room floor, Happy sighed gratefully as he plugged in the fan and it was brought to a monotonous life. She could hear the two mumble at each other like a pair of birds on a railing as she turned on her faucet. The somewhat warm water invigorated the soap and bubbles began to build across the surface. Taking off the clothes that stuck to her skin like glue from the sweat, she slowly let herself slip into the tub, the calm of the water enveloped her like a blanket fresh out of the dryer. Resting on her side, she hummed a soft tune to herself, purely out of comfort, and watched her bathroom door. 

As she tried to focus on anything else, her anxieties came back tenfold. He's your friend, a teammate, you can't have these kinds of feelings. Of course, she had no idea that Natsu was sitting outside, thinking about how it felt to have his partner's lips pressed against him through the collar of his jacket. Of course, neither of them were on the same page. Lucy tried to focus again on the door as she tried to remember the lyrics to a song. You're holding me and holding back, I don't really care for that, just you. She had noticed for the first time the paint around the frame was beginning to chip. Her eyes began to hood themselves as she soaked, all the comfort in that moment could only bring her so much energy.

When she opened her eyes again, however, she was shivering. Her immediate thought was to get out of the bath but as she took in her surroundings, she realized she was already in her bed. In one of her spare nightgowns her duvet was sprawled across her, with an extra blanket on top. As her body continued to shake she pulled the blanket up to her chin and curled her legs up to her chest.

"You fell asleep in the tub," a voice from the kitchen said. Natsu leaned out so she could see him.

The events began to process in Lucy's mind. "You saw me naked? You dressed me?"

"You ask that like it's never happened before." He had gone back into the kitchen, she could hear water boiling in her kettle. Why did he have to be so nonchalant about it, every time. 

"Don't blow up my kitchen!"

"I know how to make tea!" He said, replicating the energy she had in her concern. He reappeared with two mugs of tea, holding both by the rim rather than the handle. He handed one to Lucy who took it with many thanks. She sat up, resting against her headboard and pillow as Natsu sat at the edge of the bed. With her mug brought up to her lips, she kept her gaze on him, watching his movements. He seemed focused on something. Not really staring at anything in particular, his gaze was steady as his eyes glazed over. 

"Where'd Happy go?" Lucy asked after taking a long sip of her tea. He seemed to be brought back to reality at the sound of her voice. 

"Huh? Oh, He went to see Wendy and Carla. He wanted to see if she could help you." Lucy couldn't tell, but Natsu had been especially worried. Ever since Tartaros, he had become aware of sensitive he was to Lucy's well being. She was strong, a terrific fighter and a great friend. But once he realized it was possible to loose her forever, every battle and every hit felt almost like a step closer to an end. He took the time to try to be closer and more attentive to her well being. 

To be perfectly honest, he was even happy just being in her apartment. When he first started barging in, it was purely because he wanted to be with his friend and her apartment was always a clean, welcoming space. Now it felt like a seclusion, a comfort in a world that willing to erase anything and everything. It was a space that had become synonymous with safety to him. He almost indulged the soft, sweet, floral scent of the apartment and the golden light that fell through the bare wooden framed windows. 

He felt a tug on the blanket he was sitting on and turning his gaze towards Lucy he noticed her moving closer to the edge of her bed and lifting up the corner of her duvet, she was making room for him. He moved up the bed and sat next to her as she flipped the corner over his lap. 

"Thank you for taking care of me today," she said, "I know it's probably not how you wanted to spend your afternoon." 

"Don't worry about it, it's probably for the best anyway." He said, taking a sip from his mug. Immediately embarrassed, and gradually becoming annoyed, Lucy looked into the depths of her mug. 

"You're welcome to leave, if Happy shows up here again I'll let him know you left." She expected him to say, in a minute, or to take the opportunity to go back to the guild. Anything but what he did. He slid his right arm under and around her left, the rough canvas of the bandages rubbed against her soft skin. He leaned his head to the side, resting it against her. In that moment, they were simply two tired teammates allowing themselves to rest against each other. 

Natsu wondered how small she was. Not that she was tiny, but compared to him she was like a china doll. Porcelain limbs and shinning glass eyes, a woman who should have been kept on a pedestal rather than thrown into a battlefield. But, then again, Lucy had personally jumped from that pedestal. Personally thrown herself in the most dangerous situations, often for the people she cared so deeply for. And after everything, the cracks in the glass would heal and the eyes would widen again. She would always be the stronger than he ever knew, and he knew she could do anything. 

He would never admit it, but he was worried this time. When all was said and done after the job, he couldn't find Lucy at the end. In recent months she would always be there at the end, offering him a hand or support. She wasn't this time. He had found her in the woods, propped up against a hollowing tree, gazing at him and smiled. The words, you're okay, I'm so glad! came out as a whisper, he hardly heard her. She had fallen asleep against him as he carried her back to meet with the rest of the team. The whole trip home, she only said a few words to him. He hoped she would've been better today. But she was still only a faded version of her usual self. 

Lucy moved her hand towards his, running her thumb back and forth across his palm. Things can go back to normal later. For now she was at peace enjoying his company, and he was at peace knowing she was there. 

[bumblebeehug]

Blush Potion

Summary: Lucy drinks a love potion with annoying side effects: she can't stop blushing. Notes: Inspiration struck while I was on the toilet and inspiration Did Not Wait. So guess where this was written. Ao3 - FF.net

***

Lucy can’t stop blushing. Nothing unusual, you think, because it’s frankly quite easy to make that mage blush. Just tease her about her love life and the blood will travel to her cheeks faster than light. No, Lucy blushing is not concerning. It’s the fact that she can’t stop AT ALL that makes the situation complicated.

See, magic potions are not rare. They are simple to make and usually take very little magic energy to create. So naturally they are cheap to buy. The thing about magic potions however, is that no matter how hard the council's regulations are on them, there’s no way to tell what they actually contain. Liquids are easy to spike with some random magic, and sadly enough these potions sell like butter at town markets. Lucy, who adores her street and her neighbours, loves to support local businesses, and makes sure to do all her grocery shopping from the nearby markets. Unfortunately a sweet old lady convinced her to buy a few homemade magic potions, and there is no way Lucy Heartfilia could ever deny a wrinkly face paired with shaky hands. So three magic potions she bought, one against tummy ache, one for green fingers (Lucy had coincidentally bought a flower pot the day before), and one for “love all around”. She wasn’t sure what the last one meant, but old ladies never meant any harm so what could possibly happen?

Well, back to that blushing problem. The first two potions worked like a charm, her flowers were thriving and her last stomach ache was cut short thanks to the citrus-scented potions. The last potion was where the problem lied. Lucy had been excited to try it, because “love all around” was a quite vague concept. Would she love her own surroundings more? Would her surroundings love her more? Would her guildmates show her more affection for a week? Or would she want to be the one who showed her guildmates affection? The outcome was unknown, which was exciting. So she drank it.

At first she didn’t feel anything. No feeling of overflowing love that needed to come out. Nothing different for the first hour after drinking the potion. Two hours went by, and she was feeling perfectly fine. Until Natsu came by, that is.

“Hey Lucy!” He climbed through the window with ease as he greeted her.

“Heya Natsu,” she smiled, still slightly disappointed in the potion. “What have you been up to? Is Happy with you?” Natsu was just about to answer when she felt it. A warmth climbing through her toes and fingers, up to her head, almost making her dizzy - this feeling was familiar. She was blushing. How convenient of the potion to work its magic as soon as she had company.

“Happy got stuck listening to some old fisher by the docks. The dude never stopped talking though so I went here to hang out with you instead.” Natsu hadn’t noticed her bright pink face yet. “Man, I just wanted to see if they had salmon so you could make that soup again…” As he noticed Lucy’s lack of response he took a closer look at her. “Hey, what’s the matter? You don’t look so good, weirdo.” In front of him, Lucy was fanning her face, panting and sweating on the chair. “What’s going on?”

The question made Lucy blush even more - how was she going to tell him that she drank a love potion? Though, that had to wait for a second because at this point the blood rush was making her head spin.

“I’m… burning up… Could you bring something cold?” She panted, trying to keep her heartbeat steady. Natsu frowned but followed orders immediately, soon laying a wet towel on Lucy’s forehead.

“Are you sick or something? Do you want me to fetch Wendy?”

“No, no, don’t worry about it,” she said, slowly leaning back in the chair. “I drank a potion, that’s all, just suffering some side effects.” With the damp towel on her head, she felt a lot clearer in her head. Natsu brought a kitchen chair and sat down beside her, a concerned look plastered on his face. She found that he didn’t look half bad right now, with his chiselled chin directed towards her. Of course, Lucy had never thought that Natsu looked bad - his entire character screamed “good looking” ever since she first met him, but something in her dizzy brain made him look extra nice. Frown and all.

“What type of potion? Are you sure it’s not dangerous?” Natsu’s eyebrows went closer together, creating a wrinkle. Lucy shook herself out of her thoughts. She couldn’t think about Natsu’s attractiveness right now! His handsome face was irrelevant to her situation. She blushed harder at the thought, now hearing the blood rush in her ears.

“I’m sure, it’s just a homemade potion… The bottle is on my nightstand.” She had to concentrate not to stutter on her words.

“Man, you’d think you would learn from going invisible that time not to use unknown potions…” Natsu muttered as he pulled off the cork to take a sniff. It wouldn’t be easy, but maybe he could trace what magic had been used. It was highly unlikely though.

“The granny who sold me the potion seemed so kind though,” Lucy whined, not loving how this blushing affected her thinking. See, she tried to close her eyes to ignore her gawping at Natsu, but with her eyes closed her other senses got even higher. Now she could swear she could feel Natsu’s breath against her face when he talked to her, and she was crazy aware of the hand he held above her knee. Yeah, drinking this potion was a mistake.

“Hey I think I recognise some ingredients here, we should head to the guild to ask for help…” Natsu’s words mellowed out, only becoming a pleasant voice in Lucy’s ears. He really cared for her when she was sick, huh? Except she wasn’t exactly sick right now - she was blushing. Really, really bad. She had to open her eyes, because the blood rushing around her head made her so dizzy she thought she would fall over. As soon as she opened her eyes she was met with Natsu’s worrisome gaze, probably waiting for an answer that wouldn’t come. All she could think of right now was how much she wanted to kiss the boy in front of her. Cue, more blushing from that thought.

Natsu was about 103% sure Lucy got sick from the potion. She had all the signs of a fever, except maybe a runny nose. While Natsu himself rarely got sick, his blue flying partner wasn’t blessed with the same immune system, so he could tell when something wasn’t right. Though, the common cold rarely came as a side effect to bad potions, so the best bet he had was to get help from other, more cunning mages.

“I can tell that you’re sick, Lucy,” he told her as he picked her up in his arms. “I’m taking you to the infirmary.”

“No, no… I already know what’s going on Natsu,” Lucy mustered up to say. “I just need some rest, that's all.” It was simple to break down, really. Lucy drank a love potion, said love potion was a slight fail, side effects of love potion was saturated bodily reactions of love (Lucy blushes easily a normal day - it wasn’t hard to figure out the connections between love and blushing), potion would calm down and get out of her system in maximum two days. Except she wasn’t sure how quick she would recover in Natsu’s presence. After all, he only made the blushing worse. Actually, let’s rephrase that - Lucy was feeling completely fine before Natsu got inside her house, so maybe he was the very trigger of the potion. She couldn’t just tell him to go away though, he’d never agree to leave her alone in this state.

“Well what can I do to help? I dunno what to do when you act like this Lucy, I’m not smart like you. You gotta tell me what to do.” Natsu put her down on her bed. Her cheeks were resembling a certain scary wizard at this point, with her nose and ears matching. “Man, if only I could summon cold fire or something…”

Lucy had to giggle. If she couldn’t get the cause of the blushing out of the house, then maybe she could use Natsu’s willingness to help to her advantage.

“You’re aware that my freezer has ice, right?” From that sentence it only took Natsu a second to fetch a whole bunch of ice, wrapped up in a towel.

“Is this good? I know I’m not an ice mage so it might be melting already, but that should work, right?” Lucy giggled again, this time drowsily patting Natsu on his head.

“Very good, thanks for helping Natsu.”

As the wet, now lukewarm towel got replaced with the icy, cool one, Lucy immediately relaxed. With a clearer mind, she slowly started to comprehend the current situation. This was a love potion, which got activated as soon as Natsu came into her apartment. What she didn’t know was if the potion was human-activated, and if she presumed it was, did it activate because another human came in contact with her, or was it because a male did - or, was it simply because it was Natsu himself? Man, so many questions and no way to answer them, unless she could talk to that granny again. Well, either way she was greatly affected by Natsu’s presence right now, and she had to find the solution to this potion soon. The amount of oxygen rushing to her brain couldn’t be good for her health. With the simplest solution ruled out (Natsu leaving her alone a few days - as previously mentioned, it would simply not be possible) she began pondering on other solutions. Maybe she could try to pop some sleeping pills and sleep away the potion? They would only last for a few hours, but at least she had a chance to process some of that potion… Well, the problem with that option would be that Natsu would have to fetch the pills, and he’d either refuse giving drugs to his best friend, or he’d insist on sleeping beside her. None of those scenarios were to be preferred. Perhaps she could make a run for it and crash at Levy’s or Cana’s place for a couple of days - she’d get rid of the cause of the blushing and she’d get some great company! However, there were multiple downsides to this option as well. Levy would only hang around with Gajeel, Cana would worsen her body with alcohol, and the option was unsafe overall - Lucy still wasn’t sure if she’d blush in the company of other people as well or not. Yeah, running away was impossible.

One thing that Lucy always liked about love potions was that the entire point of it was usually to get one party to kiss another - true love’s kiss. All love potions she had read about in books were possible to dispel with the true love’s kiss (as well as a few other spells - curses often had true love as the easy way out). If her theory were right, she could simply get Natsu to kiss her on her lips, and poof, the potion would be cured! As simple as that, really. But, there is a but. Lucy had never kissed someone before. At the ripe age of 25, Lucy had only been on a handful of dates in her life, none of them meeting more than once. Now, usually she didn’t mind being inexperienced at this age, since her work as a mage took up so much time that having a boyfriend would make things complicated, but never having had a first kiss made her want it to be special. Not just a way to dispel a potion (through a one sided crush as well, as if everything wasn’t going bad enough). No, Lucy had to brace herself. She clearly saw the only two possible options here - just keep quiet about the love potion and let it wear off for a few horrible days, or kiss and get it all over with. That was her options.

Natsu had been sniffing the potion bottle for almost half an hour, trying to learn something about the suspicious liquid that caused harm to his friend. If he only could get a whiff of the magic used or something - some kind of virus maybe? Something that could have made Lucy sick. As he pondered he let his eyes wander off to his right side, where Lucy was laying. She seemed peaceful right now, as if she was at the edge of falling asleep, but he heard from her slight panting and rapid heartbeat that she still was battling with whatever was going on inside of her. He really wanted to help her. With everything they had gone through, all signs of distress from the blonde made him queasy. He knew it likely was a mix of trauma from seeing future Lucy die and all those time she had been tortured by enemies that played unfaily. He wasn’t unaware of his strong feeling of connection to the celestial wizard - he knew her presence alone was enough to give Natsu the will to keep going, so anything hindering her from being happy and healthy was a big concern for the dragon slayer. He was ready to go great lengths to keep Lucy safe, even if she didn’t know about it.

Lucy clenched her bedsheets. She had made her decision. While it wouldn’t be impossible for her to hold out until the potion got out of her system, she knew it would feel horrible and only create problems. Rent was due, her team was expecting her to show up on a mission tomorrow, and she didn’t want to rely on Natsu’s care for longer than necessary. She was going to give Natsu the kiss option. She was sure that if she explained properly, they could kiss and get it over with. Now, since she obviously was uncertain if Natsu actually liked her romantically, telling him that a “true love’s kiss” was the only cure, would be to complicate things. If she was lucky, the love in their friendship and Lucy’s one-sided crush would be enough to fix the potion - it was already homemade with flaws, so she might as well try, right? And if she needed desperate measures, she could blame the potion for her falling in love with Natus - it was a plausible explanation after all.

“Hey Natsu.”

“Yeah? You need something?” Natsu shifted in his seat, ready to address her needs at any given second.

“Uhm… I suppose yes?” Lucy took off the slightly melted ice towel and turned her head to face the pinkette. “You see, there’s a thing about the potion that I didn’t tell you about. It’s a love potion - or rather, a ‘love all around’ potion, that’s what the seller called it. I got it for cheap when buying some other things at the market.” This story was more embarrassing than she remembered, because she couldn’t help but to blush some more.

“And well, to keep it short - the fastest cure to a love potion is a kiss from the users ‘true love’. I- I’m not saying that you have to l- love me or anything like that though! I just thought that since you’re the one I got affected by, maybe the potion decided to make you my true love or something? I’m sorry, I’m sure this is weird for you! You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, it’s a really weird request, I could just wait for the potion to cure itself in a few days as well, that really wouldn’t be a problem, I-” She felt how she got redder by the second - this entire situation was totally not ideal. With the blood rushing back to her face though, she had to lie down again.

“So… I just need to kiss you?” Natsu asked, eyes widening. Was it really that easy?

“I suppose,” Lucy answered, fanning her heated face. “Not if you’re not fine with it of course!”

“Are you fine with it though?” He had a concerned face again, pouting his lips slightly. “I know you want your first kiss to be with someone special.” He didn’t want to make his best friend uncomfortable. His eyes met Lucy’s brown ones. They were filled with some emotion he only could describe as affection.

“Well, you’re special, you know. I don’t mind if it’s you.” Even if this was on the top three most embarrassing sentences Lucy had ever said out loud, she smiled with complete honesty. Natsu might be a friend, a teammate and a partner in all labels, but first and foremost, he would always be Natsu. The one person she would trust with everything she had when it came down to it - even her heart and her lips.

And that smile was all Natsu needed to trust her judgement. “Alright,” he said, moving his face closer. “I’ve never kissed anyone before though, so I’m not sure how to…” He didn’t have to think too hard though, because Lucy carefully took Natsu’s face in her hands and led him closer. Those brown eyes, full of trust, affection and love, only slightly sparkled with nervosity, gave him all the courage Natsu needed to close the distance between their lips. As their mouths met, Natsu could swear Lucy’s lips were made of strawberry scented velvet, and their lips moulded perfectly to each other.

Lucy herself swore that fireworks were going off in the distance. For every second they kissed, she could feel the uncomfortable dizziness that originated from the love potion disappear, and instead get replaced with the familiar warmth that was Natsu’s fire. She couldn’t help but to smile through the perfect kiss.

“Huh, it really worked,” she admitted against his lips, catching her breath slightly.

“Well, you did say that the cure was true love.” Lucy opened her eyes, forehead still pressed against Natsu’s. The look in his eyes gave away everything she needed to know - the love wasn’t due to the love potion - and even more important, the love was mutual. She knew they would have to get these feelings into words as soon as they pulled apart, but for now she was happy feeling Natsu’s hands pull her in for another kiss.

What a lovely thing a potion could be.

[gymjunkie412]

What exactly is the chaos dragon slayer au and how can I start following the story? Where does this begin?

Ooff, okay. I'm not good at explaining stuff, but I'll try to make it understandable 🫡 here we go! I think it started from a fanfic writer from wattpad who wrote the story. (I don't remember who the original author/idea was, though)

Warning : There will be a lot of OOC and confusing content in this AU. It has too many variations

The very first version (the one I read for the first time) is "Tamer Of Chaos. (New Version)" by Primsgirl89 on wattpad. This story is discontinued sadly, but it is the gateway of this AU (probably).

These fanfics are mostly on wattpad, but you can also find it on AO3 and FanFiction.Net

I'll summarize some bits in the story you should know, depending on the multiple variations of this au I have read so far.

Natsu was raised by Acnologia instead of Igneel, therefore his magic is called "chaos" from Acnologia's title (Black Dragon of the Apocalypse). His personality is very much the opposite. Rude, vicious, doesn't give a **** about anything, etc. Happy is still his exceed but really just hangs out with him most of the time.

Lucy (oh boy) has like a lot of version of personalities based on what background she comes from. There's one where she is a fire dragon slayer raised by Igneel instead, or some kind of celestial dragon slayer, or a very timid person, or a hot-headed, or the overly optimistic, or even as her OG self, etc.

Gray, Erza and the whole FT Guild either is the same in the OG or openly hates Natsu, or be an acquaintance at least, or even frenemies, etc.

Markarov and Wendy (So far) is still the same in the OG but slightly different is all.

Some versions portrayed Lisanna as a *****, but not many. (tbh I don't like this part at all)

Most of this AU follows the OG story flow, with a twist of course and sometimes a different one entirely. There will be OC characters and villains included as well as rare friendly pairs. It's quite interesting tbh.

Natsu for some reason is okay with Lucy, either because she is not afraid of him or she treats him differently then others. (he has his own personal reasons as well, though I never understand most of it)

I don't know what else to explain. Sorry if the explanation is kind of messy. If you still have more questions, feel free to let me know. I don't mind answering them.

I'll give you links of the fanfics that I follow for my chaos AU and my personal favourites. (there is no specific order)

Tamer Of Chaos. (New Version) *Discontinued

Chaos and Salamander *Complete

Fairy Tail : Chaos and Fire *Discontinued

Chaos' Treasure *On going

Calming the Chaos *last update on 2020

I probably read most of the fanfics for this AU

[genork-the-fandork]

Smoke

Word Count: 636 Prompt: Dance/Jealousy A/N: I started the week writing a lot of Lucy POV, and I ended the week with a lot of Natsu. I'm not sure how that happened, but I do know that it was fun. I'm really glad I got to express my love for Natsu through these little drabbles, and I hope I did them justice. Thank you to everyone who read and reblogged my work! Have a little jealous Natsu for your trouble! @thenaluarchive @allaboutnalu

"Natsu, there's smoke coming out of your nostrils," Happy pointed out, placing his fish on his tiny lap. "Should I pour a bucket of water on you?"

"What?" The pink-haired wizard shook his head, dissipating the smoke that had apparently been emanating from him. He batted it away, glaring down at his best friend. "Don't get the water, Gramps'll get mad."

It was bad enough Natsu had to wear a suit of all things, but he'd been scolded by Makarov, Mirajane, and just about every other Fairy Tail member to be on his best behavior. Which was hard, considering his best behavior was beating up bad guys or getting in fights with his guildmates. The most fun thing to do was dance, so naturally, Natsu wanted to do that with his other best friend. Unfortunately, she was already dancing with one of those Blue Pegasus guys. For some reason, he was really ticked about that.

"Why the smoke, Natsu?" Happy asked again, following his gaze to where Lucy was dancing and smiling. She even let out a laugh. Natsu's nose twitched. He could practically hear her laugh from across the room. Oh, wait. He actually could. A mischievous look crossed the cat's face. "Oh, I see."

"See what?" Natsu gave his friend a clueless look, but the Exceed just giggled behind his fish. "C'mon, Happy, what?"

"Nothing~" Happy padded away, joining Carla and Pantherlily further along down the table.

With a huff, Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and kept watching Lucy. The anger he felt didn't stop, but rather it changed into something darker, a little uglier, even. It should be him dancing with her, he'd known her longer! Plus, they were guildmates, it only made sense!

But it was more than that. He wanted to be the one to dance with Lucy, and only him. Natsu could hardly find the words to describe this jittery, tight feeling in his chest, only that it was apparently making him breathe smoke like a dragon. Plus, he was getting a headache from glaring so hard.

The song ended, and Lucy curtsied to the Blue Pegasus mage. She looked up and, seeming to see Natsu, made her way over to where he was standing along the wall. "You aren't dancing, Natsu? I thought you'd be flailing in the middle of everything."

"Not tonight. Gramps's orders." Natsu tried not to meet her gaze, not wanting her to see just how frustrated he was by the evening's events.

Lucy made a noise of acknowledgment, and then she grabbed his hand. "Come on, Natsu. Dance this next one with me." She pulled on his arm, not hard enough to pull it out of the socket, but enough that he yelped.

"But I can't dance!" he protested. Strictly speaking, this was true. He wasn't much for the fancy-schmancy dances at stuffy events like this.

"I'll teach you." She turned to him with one of her gentle smiles. "You looked like you were going to burn this place down."

So she'd seen it. Natsu's cheeks went pink from embarrassment. He watched her position their arms just so, and in no time, she was leading him in the next dance. His foot stepped on hers briefly, and he nearly leaped away. "S-sorry."

"Don't be." Lucy smiled again, wider than before. "Isn't this fun?"

Considering he'd gotten his wish to dance with her, and considering how happy she looked to be dancing with him, he had to grin. "Lots of fun." 

The darkness in his chest went away the longer they danced, as did the smoke he'd been breathing. Natsu really wouldn't be able to figure out what the feeling was, not until some time down the line, when he finally realized that the happiness he felt around Lucy was the stirrings of love.

[tokkias]

dancing in the marbled moonlight ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Natsu can name a million things he would rather do than dance at some stuffy party but somehow all it takes is Lucy (and seeing another man's hands on her hips) to make him change his mind. ao3

Nalu Week 2024 Day 7: Dance/Jealousy

The sound of the brass band bounces off the marble walls and ceiling of the grandiose ballroom. It’s been a while since Natsu has been to the royal palace, and it’s kind of a miracle that they’ve been allowed back given his history, but regardless of their recklessness, Fairy Tail and their members are still highly regarded by the royal family. That’s how they find themselves back here, as guests at an annual ball held in the heart of Crocus.

It's not really Natsu’s vibe, what with the stuffy clothing, the uptight rules, and the boring dances, but what is his vibe is the endless food and booze that is provided by the best chefs in all of Ishgar. The company is good too, as he gets to mingle with some of his friends that he hasn’t seen in far too long, but everyone who approaches him knows where his priorities lie tonight. He’s under strict no-destruction orders from Erza, which he is more than happy to follow as long as the food keeps coming.

“Are you just going to sit here stuffing your face for the rest of the night?” Comes Lucy’s voice--the only thing that can seemingly pull him out of his food-induced trance.

Wiping away some stray sauce with his sleeve, he looks up at her to find her standing over him, her hands on her hips, where flowing waterfalls of pink fabric fall to her feet.

“Yeah? What else would I be doing?”

“I don’t know. Mingling? Dancing?” She suggests.

“Nah, I’m good,” he dismisses.

Clearly, his response is not what she had been fishing for when she lets out an exasperated huff in response.

“Geez, are you really making me do this?” She asks, and he only replies with a quirked eyebrow in confusion. “I want to dance. I’m asking you to dance with me.”

He looks at her puzzled for a moment before he glances over to the dance floor. It’s not like the type of dancing they get down to back at the guild hall—this is that fancy ballroom shit. Everyone is sweeping across the floor in poised movements that feel incredibly rehearsed, unlike the laid-back, borderline chaotic dances of Fairy Tail that begin as dancing and end in moshing. He can imagine Lucy on that dance floor, with her everlasting elegance and grace, but it’s not really his thing, and he doesn’t know how to do it.

“No thanks,” he repeats.

He can’t imagine any of that being fun, and he can think of a million better ways to embarrass himself and Lucy in front of all these people, so he doesn’t entertain the thought for any longer than it takes to shoot her down. He does feel a little bad when she sees her expression falter for a second into something that looks like disappointment, but he can’t really imagine she was that eager to dance with him like that in the first place, so he doesn’t pay it much mind.

“Fine, I’ll find someone else then,” she says with a huff.

He doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal, but his brows still knit together in confusion as she walks away. He tries not to dwell on it for too long before he’s back to what he really came here for.

Palace food, he finds out, is not unlimited. Though the kitchen staff cooked enough to feed a small army, what they don’t realise is that the guilds may have the numbers of one, but their appetite exceeds it, which leaves Natsu waiting pathetically at the banquet table for the staff to bring out more food. He quickly learns there’s not much to do when he’s not stuffing his face because everyone else has already settled into their place. Groups have already formed, and conversations have been firmly established. For a moment, he considers taking Lucy up on her previous offer because there’s simply nothing for him to do right now, but she’s long gone into the midst of everything.

With Lucy lingering in his mind, he scans the ballroom for her. If she hasn’t found a partner yet, then maybe she’ll accept his late agreement, but those hopes are quickly dashed when he spots her curled blonde updo and silken pink dress twirling across the dancefloor.

She’s with some guy he doesn’t recognise—either a member of another guild or maybe a staff member of the palace—but whoever he is makes Natsu uneasy. He’s got his fingers intertwined with hers and his hand resting comfortably on her waist, and it makes his stomach bubble up with this weird feeling that he can’t name but certainly doesn’t enjoy. Lucy doesn’t like it when guys touch her waist—something she has made incredibly clear to him and any other guy who has tried—but for some reason she doesn’t look like she minds it when this guy does it.

He can see the smile on her face and hear her laughter as they twirl around the floor together.

He knows he should be glad she’s having a good time, but something about it makes him feel ill. It ruins his appetite, and by the time the food comes out, he doesn’t really feel like eating.

He tries to look away and drag his mind elsewhere, but it’s like a train wreck that he can’t take his eyes off, no matter how much it hurts him. His heart squeezes and twists painfully in his chest, but in this moment, he has become a glutton for punishment. He watches them step and sway as he tries to figure out why it hurts him so much because it’s just a stupid dance. It’s a stupid, boring dance that he couldn’t do anyway, even if he tried, but for some reason he suddenly wishes he hadn’t been so quick to brush Lucy off when she had asked, because now seeing her do it with someone else makes him want to be the one dancing with her.

He wonders how mad she would be if he marched up to her and told her that it was his turn now, but realistically, he knows that’s going to get him the opposite of what he wants, so he continues to sulk into his empty plate.

When rounds of seconds come out, he’s not as enthused about it as he thought he would be. It’s not as much of a distraction as he expected, his gaze continually flicking up to check on Lucy in a repeated moment of self-punishment. She looks like she’s having fun, and he wants to be happy for her, but he’s still kicking himself that he’s not the one out there having fun with her. He picks at his food half-heartedly in self-pity. Sure, the food is good, but he wonders if it was really good enough that he dismissed her so flippantly.

He's never been one to regret food, but if there’s one person who could make him feel bad for choosing food over them, it would be Lucy.

He doesn’t know how to dance all nice and fancy like that, but Lucy probably wouldn’t care because she’s nice like that. She wouldn’t laugh at him or care if people stared; she’d be patient and kind until he got the steps right, and then they’d twirl around the room and make total fools of themselves. It’s not something that seems fun to him, but he thinks it would be fun if he were doing it with Lucy.

He watches her as the night progresses and she moves from partner to partner with new faces who are more than willing to indulge her in her night of dancing. He probably looks a little creepy to onlookers, but there must be some horrible vibe radiating from him as he lurks because no one seems to bother him. He’s trying his best not to be weird about it, but he’s waiting for some sort of lull to approach her because he knows Lucy, and he knows that interrupting her nice dance with some other guy is only going to reward him with a swift Lucy Kick.

When a lull finally occurs and she’s left wandering the outskirts of the dancefloor, he takes this chance and makes his way over, drawing her attention when he brushes his hand against her own.

“Natsu?” She says, and he can see the surprise in her eyes and hear it in her voice. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going to eat all evening.”

“I want to dance,” he says, but his voice is little more than a mumble, and she doesn’t have quite the hearing that he does.

“What?”

“I want to dance with you,” he repeats, louder this time.

She meets him with a look of confusion and mild bewilderment at his request.

“You said you didn’t want to earlier,” she replies.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind,” he tells her.

The way he says it with a pout forming on his lips, he probably sounds like a little kid, and he feels it too. It feels a little bit embarrassing going back on his word like this after she had already asked him to dance with her and he had dismissed her so flippantly, but he knows when to swallow his pride, and he feels right now is the right time.

She looks at him with confusion, a hint of scepticism behind her eyes. She doesn’t answer immediately, but when she does, it’s not exactly what he wants to hear.

“Why?”

He hesitates for a moment because it’s hard to admit that he was wrong to reject her in the first place, but he knows he has to swallow his pride to get what he wants.

“Because it looked like you were having fun, and I wanted to have fun with you,” he confesses.

“If you wanted to have fun with me, why did you say no the first time?”

It’s a little frustrating having her interrogate him like this when she could just say yes, but he supposes he brought this on himself by not saying yes in the first place.

“Because I thought it looked boring,” he answers candidly. “And I don’t even know how to dance like that anyway.”

His gaze flicks away in light embarrassment as he adds that last part, but with the quick glimpse he catches of Lucy’s face, he sees her expression soften.

“I can teach you,” she says, her voice sweet like honey and making his heart tighten in his chest.

Of course, she would. Kind, sweet, patient Lucy would teach him how to dance even after his prior flippancy about it. Not everyone was patient with him, but Lucy was, even when he was grumbly and difficult. She had been with him through thick and thin, and now here she was, teaching him how to dance, because her love was not conditional to the battlefield.

“Take my hand,” she begins. “And then put your other hand on my waist.”

His fingers interlock with his as her other hand guides his to her waist, where it sits comfortably in the little dip before her hip. She brings her hand to rest on his shoulder, and that’s the moment he realises just how close together their bodies are. He feels warmer than usual, and he can hear his heart thumping so loud in his ears that he almost wonders if she can hear it too. If she does, she makes no mention of it.

“I’ll lead,” she simply tells him.

His brows furrow together in concentration as he stares down at their feet, trying his best not to step on her toes. It takes a bit to get the movements down, but it’s not as hard as he thought it would be. He steps where she steps, following each movement she makes, leading them across the dance floor.

Even when the steps become muscle memory, it takes him a while to look up at her while they dance. He’s worried that he’ll step on her feet, for one, but his face feels awfully warm from being this close to Lucy, and it makes him feel a little self-conscious.

He’s never cared about what other people think about him, never cared about how people perceive his appearance or behaviour, but he cares what Lucy thinks of him. If there was anyone he would try to make himself look nice for, it would be her. He doesn’t know what it is about her because she’s seen him at his lowest, his worst, and his downright grossest, and has never done anything but adore him, but he still wants to be his best for her. He doesn’t want her to think he looks silly because dancing with her is making his cheeks flush, and he doesn’t know why.

He's had the steps down for a good while before he finally musters the courage to look up and meet her gaze, and any worries about himself dissipate when he sees her smile. She looks like she’s having the time of her life dancing with him, and gods, he feels he is too. Yeah, he still feels like this whole dancing thing is kind of dumb, but it doesn’t matter how he feels about it because Lucy’s having fun, and that means he’s having fun.

With a bit more confidence gained, eventually he is the one leading, with Lucy following his steps and letting him take them wherever he may. He does it with less grace than she does, but if that’s something she cares about, she doesn’t say anything. She giggles and squeals when they turn a little too fast, and with his newfound confidence, he uses the momentum to twirl her around, which seems to catch her off guard. He catches her before she can lose her balance too much, but she’s grinning ear to ear over it, so he doesn’t think she’s about to complain.

In that moment, everyone around them seems to disappear, and he pays no mind to the looks they might be getting. He has no time to regret not doing this earlier because he’s too busy enjoying himself in the moment. Dancing is fun, he discovers—or perhaps more accurately, being with Lucy is fun, but he already knew that. He supposes he wouldn’t mind doing it more often if it meant he could be chest-to-chest with her again.

She doesn’t split off from him the way she has her previous partners. They twirl around in their own little world until the crowd thins out and the moonlight streams in through the palace windows. Their movements become less refined as the evening grows into night, but given they’re the last left on the dancefloor, there’s no one but the musicians to watch them fumble. Even when he makes a misstep, Lucy only laughs, and they keep going. They dance only until she tires and complains her feet hurt, which leads her to leaning against him to keep herself up. Perhaps in another time he would have pretended to complain about it, but as his hand slips around her waist to hold her up, he thinks he doesn’t want to risk losing it, so he keeps his mouth shut and lets her lean her head on his shoulder.

They walk back to the inn like that, Lucy toddling along at his side with one hand on her waist as he carries her shoes in the other. He takes it as the good deal that it is, because if there had been more alcohol at the event, he fears she would be making him carry her back.

When they make it back to the inn, she flops down onto his bed, not bothering to walk the extra few steps to make it to hers. He doesn’t mind. When she finally rolls over, she flashes him a smile, and in that moment, he considers himself the luckiest guy in the world.

That, of course, doesn’t stop him from disrupting the moment.

“You didn’t tell me you were good at dancing,” he says, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

She smacks him on the arm, and it elicits a howl of laughter from him. After a night of elegant dancing, this is more the Lucy he knows, and he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

[fairydares]

Princes to Dragons

[Putting this up here now while I have a spare moment! Nalu oneshot for Nalu Week. Day 1 Prompt: Cuddling/Nightmare. Rated G.

[Summary: Day 1 of Nalu Week 2024! Prompt: “Cuddling/Nightmare.” A scene you’d expect, given the prompt: the first time Natsu sneaks into Lucy’s bed after Porlyusica made Lucy cuddle with him in order to save him from hypothermia. Takes place just after Alvarez. Lucy’s perspective.

[Here's the AO3 Link. If you like it, consider giving it a hit/kudo or something over there, plus keeping your eye out for when I post the other prompts 😅]

--

"Gajeel and Levy have gotten closer. I kind of get jealous when I see them." - Fairy Tail Chapter 545: “Friends You Can’t Do Without”, Lucy’s internal monologue (pg. 9, scan)

"I’ve been following developments between Gray and Juvia, but…there are other pairings to take an interest in, too!" - Fairy Tail Chapter 545: “Friends You Can’t Do Without”, Lucy’s internal monologue (pg. 14, scan)

--

When Lucy’s eyes opened in the middle of the night and found the full moon glowing between her breeze-stirred curtains, she knew exactly what she’d find in her bed, and it made her heart leap in a completely different way than it ever had.

Why? Well…at that point, she still wasn’t thinking about it, thank you very much!

(It was all starting to leak out of a box she’d once been only dimly aware of, and she had no clue what to do.)

Her overconditioned Home Invader Instincts (“That’s called ‘paranoia,’ Lucy,” Happy had once quipped, earning a loud “Shut it, Cat!”) once again proved tragically sharp; before she was even fully awake or could really articulate why she knew to start looking, she began squirming and rooting groggily through her pink sheets and blankets. The bleariness finally wore off enough for her to sit up and yank back the blankets, revealing an obscenely toned bare back and an unmistakable head of wild pink hair on a drool-stained pillow.

“Those jerks! After all the times I’ve told them to quit breaking in here! They’re unbelievable! Wait…where’s Happy?” Her grip loosened and her eyes went wide and blinked in the dark.

Digging through the blankets—and no, she was not being gentle about it. Why should she be when digging around an intruder? Also, her heart was not “fluttering” like the romantically-inclined writer in her was trying to insist; it was pounding. And even if it had been “fluttering,” it was not because an entire year lay between this and the last time she’d found the pyro in her bed—it was because of anger!

(Her hands shook in the moonlight even as she grabbed and tugged at bunches of quilt. Her cheeks felt molten. Her stomach was a storm of butterflies, the feeling as panic-inducing as it was thrilling. Worse, she couldn’t understand why she was feeling this way…it never used to be this bad! Seriously, what was wrong with her lately?)

Anyways, digging through the blankets did not reveal Natsu’s abidingly present partner, confirming the improbable:

Happy wasn’t there.

“H-he didn’t even bring the cat?!” Lucy whisper-screeched, clutching at blankets like pearls. Oh, now she really couldn’t believe him! Not only had the creep broken into her apartment and snuck into her bed, he hadn’t even brought Happy so it wasn’t just her and him in the bed...alone.

And he’d…he’d taken his shirt off! She knew he was still injured from the battle against Zeref and Acnologia, more injured even than most of them, and that he’d probably shed the garment to let his bandages breathe. After all, he’d been whining about it plenty around the guild. But still! There went what little propriety (and with their nosy, raunchy guild, what little plausible deniability) he’d ever given her to begin with. With how thick he was, she doubted he’d have any notion of the difference, and she’d be the one left to to splutter explanations no one would believe. Mavis knew that was all Lucy needed. For reasons unknown, Levy, Mira, and Cana’s teasing had gotten worse than ever lately, to the point that they were hard enough to handle without this ammo.

With her fluster pitching to outrage—

(More slowly than usual, her heart seeming to stagger into it as she turned her focus to him. Much to her dismay, she needed a moment to hold her hand over her chest and try to calm the organ galloping within.)

—Lucy reached for the tanned skin glowing in the moonlight over more dips and swells of muscle than she’d quite gotten used to, shrieking, “Natsu!”

“Lucy!”

The choked cry caused her hand to freeze above his back, all the anger startled right out of her. Despite how loud she’d been and the fact she’d said his name, the groggy quality to his answer along with the out-of-place fear and desperation told her instincts that he was still fast asleep. Her expression of anger shifted to one of shock, and then concern in the moonlit dark, eyes widening even as her brow furrowed and the corners of her lips tugged down.

“…Natsu? Hey, are you alright?” Much softer this time, but it still did no good. Leaning over to examine him more closely only confirmed her suspicions, and deepened her worried frown. Sweat beaded over his skin. His face was contorted into an expression of fear—and agony that seemed to clench her heart in a fist stronger even than Erza’s. The Dragon Slayer grew visibly more agitated by the second, fists clenching at her pillow hard enough that she was sure it would rip. That, or his hurt hand would wake him up.

In this strange and unusual moment, though, neither of those possibilities really registered as a concern to Lucy.

That helpless, almost childlike expression…she wasn’t used to seeing Natsu like this. From the very beginning, he’d been her rock. Protecting her from crazy situations as surely as he dragged her into them, lending her strength when she was out, and giving her hope when she was sure there was none left. The almost childlike, terrified, grief-stricken expression he wore scared her a lot more than she wanted to admit.

(She never wanted to see this look on his face again, but also wanted to be the one person he shared all his hidden sides with…even his fears. Wasn’t that strange?)

“Natsu…” she mumbled again, desperate to help him the way he always helped her, but unsure how. Should she wake him up, or would that just embarrass both of them?

And what was he dreaming about that made him look so awful, anyway? With the war they’d just fought, she could think of plenty. Her dreams hadn’t exactly been all cake and peaches, either, but—

“…Eyes?”—he whimpered, a fat tear running down the cheek facing her—“Why aren’t you…moving? Lucy!”

Lucy’s eyes went wide.

--

If that’s what’ll make you happy, then I don’t need these eyes, you scum!

You little witch! When I’m done with you…no one will even be able to tell who you were!

Sorry about before. I don’t remember much, but…I guess I got carried away. See, I thought Lucy was dead, so…

--

Realization, with all the horrible memories attached, hit the Celestial Mage hard enough to knock all the breath, lines, and in-betweens out of her, if only for a moment.

Her breath was what she got back first.

“Oh, Natsu…” she mumbled feelingly, understanding fully what was going on right away. How could she not? She’d been having flashbacks, too. Sometimes during the day, catching her off-guard and leaving her very shaken, requiring her to step away from everyone for a moment. But more often they happened at night, just like this. Others had mentioned it, too, but Natsu hadn’t said a word about having the same problems…obviously, he’d been keeping it to himself. Trying to be everyone’s strength, to look forward with a smile just like always. Empathy wrung at her, drawing her to clamber over him before she really realized she was doing it. The blankets and sheets rustled as she effectively straddled him, not that she was thinking of it that way. Brown eyes fretted over his miserable-looking face in the dark.

“L-Lucy…” he whimpered.

What she did next was pure instinct, something she’d done on the one and only real job Team Natsu had taken after the war, mostly to keep Erza from battering him into unconsciousness on the train to Peonia. Crawling over him as quietly and carefully as she could to get a good angle, she lowered trembling fingers towards his hair.

She stopped just above the soft curve of the highest pink spike, finally wondering what on earth she was doing. Even if he had been having nightmares, that was no excuse for breaking and entering! She should have been throwing him out, not encouraging him! Although now that she knew what it was like when he never snuck into her bed, she grudgingly admitted it was worse than the alternative.

(How many nights had she ached to wake up and find him and Happy in her bed? Or, on hotter nights—she flushed—just him. For the first time under these circumstances, the thought of a Lucy kick or her usual method of screaming made her falter. This wasn’t like her, not at all...)

She grimaced. Had another whimper not escaped him, and his palms not started smoking against her pillow, she might not have followed through. But alarm drove her over that last, scary edge. And before she knew it, her fingers were moving through his hair.

“Natsu, it’s okay,” Lucy murmured in her most soothing voice, stroking at the surprisingly soft spikes. “Everything’s okay, now…I’m okay. We’re okay.”

(In that moment, she was jealous of his lack of awareness. How desperately she wanted not to know full well she was speaking to both of them.)

Slowly, the smoke dissipated from sight, leaving only its scent hanging in the air along with the slightly cloying scent of burnt fabric, which Lucy subconsciously decided to deal with later. As she continued to run her fingers tenderly through the salmon strands, from scalp to ends, the distraught Dragon Slayer’s expression eased, a flush rising against his cheeks. Slowly, the tension ebbed from muscles he’d left her to build. By the time the moon brushed the top of the window’s frame, he was practically purring under her attention, still asleep. Gravelly, happy noises emanated into Lucy’s pillow, making her bite the inside of her cheek against a giggle.

At first, all she could do was hold her breath. But before long, her eyes narrowed, growing dark and sparkly in affection as she studied his much more peaceful looking form. A soft smile tugged at her lips.

(The protectiveness—tender as it was fierce, glowed right there in her chest, strong enough to scare the everliving crap right out of her all over again.)

If there was a time to gather her blankets and a pillow and head to the couch, it was then. Natsu looked much calmer now. Her attempts at soothing him had clearly worked, all signs of nightmare gone. She could walk away, yell at him in the morning, ask where Happy was (feigning obliviousness to the reason she now knew exactly what might have drawn her over), and let things go back to normal.

(If there was a time to rebury it all, now was it.)

(But as she let her eyes devour his bliss, it was like she became entranced. The simple fact that she had such an effect on him was mesmerizing, and made her much happier than she wanted to admit. A small giggle escaped despite her best efforts, all the adoration bubbling up inside her and spilling out without her permission, fueling her to drop her lips to his ear.)

(“Quit making people worry about you,” she whispered the same thing she’d said to him when they’d reunited back then, adding a warm, “dummy.”)

“Lucy,” he groaned just as she’d started to move carefully away from him, the urgency in his rough voice making it seem like he knew—on some level—that she was leaving. She gasped as a large, warm hand encircled her wrist in a strong grip and began tugging.

“N-Natsu!” It took all the strength she could muster at this time of night to keep the stammer down to a hiss, the sound tipping into a gasp and then a squeak as she found herself drawn against him in a preternaturally strong embrace. He’d subconsciously rolled to his side, almost his back. He had both arms wrapped around her, one around her upper back and the other around her lower, even their legs tangled together. Her entire face exploded in heat as his large, taut, warm inner thigh (He’d taken off his pants, too?! That jerk!) slid up the outside of hers, an equally strong calf curving around the back of hers to further entrap her.

(Another, embarrassing gasp fled her lungs. Her entire body gave one, strong shudder, erupting in goosebumps.)

Once she got her bearings, she struggled to get free. She really did. But there was no fighting the Dragon Slayer’s constant oozing into her space under the best of circumstances, and these were not them. Not only was she tired, she was desperate not to wake him up. In fact, if he woke up now, she was sure she’d die of embarrassment. She had absolutely no clue how she’d explain their current situation to the fiery, dense, ever-wicked idiot. Already, she could hear Happy’s teasing after Natsu told him what had transpired here tonight, and the thought had her forcibly relaxing every muscle in her body and biting her lip.

After giving herself time to calm down, she finally looked up at him again.

(Within moments of studying the smile he now wore, so starkly different from his earlier fear, she was no longer pouting and glaring.)

Defeated, Lucy—slow, halting, and hesitant—nestled closer to him. For the very first time, she followed the pull of whatever he’d unknowingly rooted in her. As the blankets rustled with her uncharacteristically careful, gentle movement and settling, she was unable to help how she blushed at the way their bodies seemed to fit together so tenderly, how her breath hitched at the way her chest melted to shape against his firm one, how the safety she found in his arms filled her with warmth.

(She’d changed. She could feel it. It was too late to prevent a thing, and the thought terrified her.)

This was Natsu, after all. Her best friend. He was always protecting her…now it was her turn to protect him, too. Even just in her own small way.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

(Mama…she thought, then stopped, unable to force herself to tell her mother how she felt even in thought, let alone ink. She felt so lost. The Prince Charming she’d always imagined herself ending up with was turning into a dragon—no, he had turned into one. And not only had she realized it at the same time she actually started to feel ready for that part of her life after the trauma of almost being married off by her father, but when Natsu leaving forced her to learn that the one thing she could never bear to do was risk losing him. She had no clue what to do.)

Natsu moved—sluggishly, in a still-asleep way. Regardless, it was abrupt (and weird) enough that she still squeaked and struggled against the urge to either flail or scream at him for being CREEPY when he turned his nose into her hair and breathed deeply.

After sniffing her (again, creepy!) Natsu sighed.

“Luce…” he mumbled one last time, light as air. The sound—her name, that one word—was so full of relief and contentment that she couldn’t help but peek up at him slowly one last time. And once again, as she let her eyes take in the adorable sight of his sleepy, smiling face, there was just no helping the balm that wormed its way into her soul and heart, none at all.

She buried her face into his warm, solid chest.

It will be fine like this...won’t it? she thought, eyes drifting shut as his warmth filled her. As long as I have him, as long as I can stay by his side...that’s all I need. It’ll be fine.

(It has to be.)

[fandomtrash-whataboutit]

Fairy Tail Freed Justine Thesis

Character! Part 2b. (Of ???)

The first important thing to do is realize how outstanding Freed is in his characterization as compared to others with whom he should be similar. I mention this in part 2a, but Freed is introduced as a side antagonist (not that i think any of the Thunder Legion are villains, but the point stands) and yet is given this depth of character, this internal conflict, that comes a a great surprise. Compare him even just with Bixlow and Evergreen in season 1. Both are one-note characters, and that’s not necessarily a jab at the show, it sort of makes sense for the first introduction of a side character. In a show like FT, that runs for a very long time, side characters do tend to get proper characterization, but it is a lengthy process. Bix and Ever are both having fun with the fight, they both follow Laxus’ orders easily, they both are just support antagonists. Yet Freed is presented with this crisis of conscious that, if you bother to think about it, shows things like the loyalty he has to the guild, a trait assigned to many of Fairy Tail’s members, especially those raised in the guild, yet something that is not shown for Bix and Ever until later appearances. Freed’s love and care for his home and family are represented in a way Bix and Ever’s aren’t, not to mention the guilt of causing harm to others.

Which brings us to the next stopping point: Tenrou Island. As we all know: freed doesn’t fight his hardest against Cana during their battle during the S-Class trials, eliminating him from the running. This is in reference to the fight he had with Cana (and Juvia?? She sorta didn’t fight) during the Battle of Fairy Tail. We’ve established that Freed is shown to have that dedication to the guild that is shown in characters like Natsu, Erza, and Elfman. He has very real, very strong motivations to want to gain that high honor of being recognized as an S-Class wizard. But he remembers the unfair situation he put Cana in, the pain that he doesn’t and never did agree with or want to carry out, her anger over his treatment of Juvia. And he feels guilty, he is remorseful, and more than that he actively wants to take repentant action because he wants not just to apologize but to make up for his actions. And no other characters get that sort of treatment. Laxus has the obvious way to make you have to think about the Battle of Fairy Tail even after season 1: he’s freaking exiled. He doesn’t come back until season 3. But in terms of lasting emotional consequences? Fairy Tail follows in the footsteps of a million other action/adventure shows, they forgive and forget past grievances offscreen. No one is shown to still be mad at the Thunder Legion, Bixlow and Evergreen don’t really mention it, and Laxus is only connected back to it through the exile itself, not in reference to any specific actions. While I believe it is mentioned a couple of times, it is only ever in reference. Freed is once again given this significant emotional maturity and general representation that is not afforded to any other character.

But now let’s talk about the Thunder Legion, shall we? Because with a bit of time we do get the Bixlow and Evergreen characterization that I so desperately seek. Bixlow is loud and excitable and sharp, Evergreen is snarky and rude and confrontational. Freed is not similar to either of them in terms of character traits, but he sees their better sides beneath the sarcasm. For whatever reasons you think are behind Bix or Ever’s motivation for being standoffish, Freed recognizes that. And he knows the roots of Laxus’ anger, he knows the pain that the lightning wizard is trying to hide. During the time that were teenagers and young adults, Freed was probably one of the only people who saw the gruff himbo behind the angry asshole persona. Freed is bookish and somewhat introverted, no-nonsense as he can be. Yet he is also someone who really loves his obnoxious, crazy friends. The dichotomy between him and his closest friends is an important aspect of who he is. And it is important for another reason, because it shows a significant, not directly stated aspect of his character. He is someone who repeatedly makes that choice to look beyond the rough exterior of those around him, who chooses to give others the benefit of the doubt. He is a trusting, optimistic person at heart.

Another thing that is less overlooked but still not discussed enough bc we don’t talk about Freed enough: he goes beyond bookish into scholarly. He is an academic, and I therefore hypothesize that he is something of an expert, or at least considered a reasonable authority on subjects of ancient magic and the roots of magic. Runes are essentially the legos of magic, they can be used to construct pretty much anything with the right pieces, and considered to be a very old form of magic with a lot of history. I think that should be respected considering how much his knowledge probably contributes to his strength, while also contributing to how fearsome of an opponent he is. In any given fight, he probably knows more about your magic than you do.

My final addition is that I want to highlight that Freed is incredibly generous. The selflessness with Cana on Tenrou, the willingness to give up his own beliefs for Laxus’ cause, his willingness to DIE in season 9 to protect his friends. He takes on the responsibility to cook for his team every time they go out on a mission. I bet he loves teaching Asuka and helping her with reading, I bet he goes out of his way to recommend books to Levy. I bet he never turns down someone asking for help with a weird obscure magical thing for a job. I bet he helps Wendy learn more about her lost magic. I bet he coos at Bixlow’s babies. (Can you tell i am normal about him?? Cus i am so normal about him.)

[ameribell]

Could we please get general relationship headcanons for Cana, Lisanna, and Lucy? Thank you!

Dating Headcanons

Cana x reader

Lisanna x reader

Lucy x reader

Notes: more girls, awesome! I see a running theme lolol

Summary: as the title implies, dating headcanons

Warnings: minor arguments, but mainly fluff

Cana

She’s the type to constantly challenge you to a drinking contest

Mainly because she knows she’ll win 🤭

With that considered, her love language is definitely quality time, and being able to pass the time, AND she gets to win?

Dream come true

If you don’t let her win in other things from time to time (on games, fighting, literally anything you two do together), she’ll eventually just get bored and give up

So let her win occasionally, on whatever you’re doing

If she goes on quests with you, she’ll be pleased to follow your orders (no matter how much she pretends like she wears the pants in the relationship)

If you don’t go on quests with her, she’ll mope about for some time, but eventually she’ll get over it (by drinking away her sorrows)

There can be fights with this one, and they can be often or rare, up to you!

She will give you the energy you give her

You’re yelling? She is too.

You’re scolding? She’ll pout like a child.

Whatever you give her, she’ll give back in tenfold, so be careful.

Just treat her nicely and she’ll do the same to you.

Lisanna

Cuddles cuddles cuddles.

Love language? Literally every single one of them. 😍

She’ll dish out compliments like crazy, and will want them too!

Physical touch? Yes please?? I didn’t open with cuddles for nothing!

Quality time? Always!

Acts of service? Yessss

She’ll cook for you fs, and if you eat it without complaint, she’ll be the happiest girl ever

She’ll love making things for you, matching jewelry, matching clothes, the works (acts of service and gift giving)

Going on quests with her is an experience you wouldn’t want to miss

But if you decide not to go, she’ll try her best to stay by your side (though if she’s dragged on a quest, she’ll be upset the whole time)

To be honest? She won’t let fights happen. She’ll do anything to avoid them, for both of your sanities

Plus she doesn’t wish to lose you because of a silly fight, so no fights here!

Lucy

To love her, you must love her zodiacs (which majority love you too, so it’s not incredibly difficult)

Some will continue to watch out for Lucy and her heart, making sure you don’t hurt her, but most will love you and the skeptics will warm up over time

Her love language is gifts, and getting her one will totally make her freak out

She’ll praise your choices (even though you picked it because she wouldn’t stop looking/talking about it)

For her giving love language, it’s quality time and acts of service, like reading to you or just writing little stories to read to you (lowk my love language, she’s so me 😭)

Quests with her are quests with Team Natsu, so they’re chaotic, but Lucy will definitely hang back with you more, in hopes to avoid most of the chaos

If you don’t go with her on quests, she’ll probably cry and whine about you leaving her for dead, and how you hate her for leaving her alone with the goblins (Team Natsu)

Just join, it’ll be fun and you’ll have a content girlfriend (get her stuff while you’re on quests, she’ll use whatever you get her alll the time, and you’ll have a very happy girlfriend)

Arguments with her are very emotional.

She’s quick to anger, and if you get her in that state you better know how to get her out, or find a way to apologize to her for the argument itself (even if it was her fault, she’ll calm down and apologize for her part in it, give her some time)

If you don’t do those things, you may find yourself single, but you’d lose such an amazing girlfriend, and the best side kick to any of your silliness

Learn to calm her down, give her gifts, and stay by her side! You’ll be loved forever. 💙

Request rules

Ways to follow and new content

[zai-doodles]

In your fairy tail will Laxus be different, guy was too much of a prick to accept his change of heart or that "deep down, he's a good guy", he threatened to kill the entire city just because he had daddy issues.

i have so many opinions ive been avoiding answering this until i had time to write an essay so here you go.

So, i personally, feel like fairy tail has a really weird habit of having characters do extremely irredeemable shit, say several times that the character is enjoying what their doing, then have their character do a 180 several arcs later because after fighting fairy tail they just saw the light or some shit.

Like i was rewatching the Battle of Fairy Tail arc and lauxus is just... so awful? and the way they try to redeem him with the spell shit not working like sir he was going to kill everyone maybe we dont give him a pass?

all this to say heres how I would rewrite the battle of fairy tail:

Ok so i'd keep Laxus' resentment of Makorav over the banishment of his dad, the only thing keeping laxus in ft is knowing one day hes going to inherit the guild. He works his ass off to become as powerful as he can in order to live up to that legacy but also...

He hates it there.

Specifically, the ones who grew up in the guild (ie erza, mira, natsu, gray, etc) because he always felt like makorav embraced them more than laxus.

So he works hard and keeps his head down, picking fights more out of resentment than anything the other guild members did. I think some of the older guild members who remember Ivan are very wary of Laxus but not afraid just... keeping an eye out.

Laxus reads it as pity.

Once Laxus grows up, hes arrogant, entitled, and selfish. He puts his everything into becoming the best and surrounds himself with yes men (the thunder legion im getting to them) who boost his ego.

Then one day he overhears some fairy tail members spreading a rumor that Makorav is going to retire...

And Erza is going to become the next guild master.

And it fucking breaks something inside him.

I think Laxus resents Erza the most because its just so clear Makorav favors her over everyone. Shes so perfect and humble and honorable and...

Everything Laxus isn't.

So he sets up a plan. He's going to take the guild by force.

ok so it happens basically the same as canon right up until the end. Before the timer runs out Laxus demands Makorav hand the guild over to him before all these people get hurt.

Makorav shows up to confront laxus and instead of doing or saying anything, he just quietly walks up to laxus and stands in front of him.

Laxus starts to panic and yells about how the old man has to give up or everyone is going to die. Outside fairy tail is taking down the dome but its not enough.

Laxus grows more erratic but Makorav says nothing.

The timer runs out and nothing happens.

Laxus sighs in defeat. He's been caught.

He was bluffing.

See the plan laxus and the thunder legion made was simple, they'd prove themselves the strongest by beating the entire guild and once everyone was taken out, makorav would have no choice to hand the guild over since no one was left to stop the thunder dome.

the body link magic still hurt any attackers just to make them seem more real, but they were only really there to pressure Makorav into caving.

Laxus didnt account for his grandpa having faith in him.

However the power grab couldn't be ignored, attacking the guild and even just threatening the city leads to laxus getting banished.

The thunder legion decide to leave fairy tail but laxus forbids them from following him anymore, not feeling worthy of being their leader anymore. So the thunder legion kinda just go off on their own as a trio for the time being.

Idk if this feels lame to others but to me its better than having laxus fully believe hes going to kill everyone and go through with it (even if the spell didnt work) only to redeem him later. It just feels weird to me? idk im not a great writer but this is just my lil rewrite.

as a treat have my bickslow redesign

shhh ik its not v good im still work shopping it but this is like, my third attempt so just take it for now

[nostromo13]

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Pairing: Nalu

Rating: T

Summary: Following the Alvarez war, Natsu has to come to terms with a new reality.

Merry Christmas! I did this one for @endragoneel and I loved their prompts. I wish I'd had more time for it, but other commitments got in the way. I hope you love it regardless, Ever. I definitely want to write more on this topic in the future. Also a big thank you to @allaboutnalu for the mountain of effort that went into organizing the whole gift exchange <3

A little additional info: Cymorth, the title, is a Welsh word that translates to support/aid (thank you to the anonymous person who corrected me on what I previously thought it was! I really appreciated it as I’m rusty on my Welsh)

AO3 Link

Cymorth

“No, dipshit, side K should be on side 296. Wait, that can’t be right.” Gray grumbled, snatching up the instructions to take another look.

Natsu groaned. His hands hadn’t hurt this much since he’d thrown Zeref through the wall of the guildhall. Or maybe since waking up on Tenrou island and the sleep state had preserved not only him but all the cuts and bruises of the fight with Hades too. They’d been at this table and its gibberish instructions for hours, doing their part in the post Alvarez war rebuild by shaping up Magnolia’s library. The whole rebuild process taking way too long for his liking and aching palms were just adding to his impatience.

When Gray began to grumble again, he’d decided he’d had enough. He let the pieces he was holding together at a weird 79 degree angle drop to the floor, creating a loud bang that displeased his entire team and earned him a few choice words as he made his way over to Lucy’s bedroom.

He spied his girlfriend as he poked his head through her doorway, seeing that she was busy sorting through the piles of books torn down from the library shelves in the tremors caused by Acnologia’s attacks. The rest of their teammates had set up base in her living room, arguing through the instructions to build a new book returns table, the noise of which had sent her out to, as she put it, concentrate. He’d sat back from that argument for once, finding more enjoyment in observing since constructing things was not one of his strengths.

Feeling like she was a little too comfortable he readied himself for a sneak attack. Legs set to pounce, fingers ready to poke her relentlessly into annoyance and muscles primed to hold on until she either paid attention to him or Lucy kicked him for pestering her.

He took one step towards her, then another. Her back faced him and with every move closer he could feel the anticipation of how delicious this attack was going to be. Listening to Erza and Gray bark orders at Wendy, Carla and Happy all afternoon had his attention well and truly fried and more importantly his Lucy quota was severely deficient.

His attack progression paused for a moment as he caught himself up in the excitement of it. His partner was in front of him. Alive and safe, busy kneeled in a mountain of books that he was sure to be her happy place. He let out a quiet laugh to himself, foolishly giving the game away and attracting her attention.

Lucy turned her head to pay him a quick glance before returning to her work, speaking to him. “Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to help me?”

“I’m bored.” He complained, rather like an impatient child. Or dragon slayer.

He joined her anyway, nudging a space for himself with his foot in the book pile with more carelessness than Lucy would appreciate. “If the table is done you could see what they’re doing at the guildhall. I have a few more hours of work before I’m done here tonight and I’m not sure how much fun you’ll find this, sorry.”

He gave her bedroom a glance for anything to distract himself while she worked, but nothing took his fancy after so many hours of a tedious task. His attention only really fell on who he’d come in here to distract. His girlfriend enjoyed little organisation jobs and appeared entirely content in the little book nest she’d messied the bedroom floor with.

In the few hours he hadn’t seen her Lucy had tied her hair up. It lay in a braid down her back, and pieces were slipping out each time she moved her head from the absentminded attempt to get her hair out of her face while trying to continue working at the same time.

With an audible “Hmph” Natsu sat himself down behind her. He tugged the hair tie gently so it fell into his hand and he got to work combing out any tangles with his fingers.

He felt her tilt her head slightly into his fidgeting, glad she hadn’t put up a protest and possibly gladder that he hadn’t gone through with his first approach of distracting her. As he worked through her hair and began braiding her features released the tense expression that she usually wore when she needed to concentrate. Lucy always looked a little upset when she did that and he could never quite wrap his head around the idea that she was perfectly okay, She had agreed that her resting face was one that did appear quite frowny, but she’d assured him she wasn’t really thinking of anything when she was like that.

“I’m bored.” Her brow creased as she held two books in her hand, looking between them, but she didn’t acknowledge his statement. “And I’m hungry.”

“Gray said he was going on a food run in a bit. Why don’t you go with him?”

“Don’t wanna go with him. He’s smelly.”

She chuckled a little, not wanting to encourage his insult. “I have too much to do. Go get food and I’ll join you when it’s here.”

He tied the end of her new braid off, letting it fall flat against her back and shuffled closer so his chin could rest on her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the fabric of one of his hoodies that lived here. “Take a break with me.”

She smiled, shaking her head.

“C’mon, you’ll strain your eyes.”

With a little huff of her own she began to stretch her legs, leaning against his chest comfortably as she did so. He tucked her head under his chin, meeting her eyes at an angle that made her giggle. “Pizza or Pad see ew?”

“Why do you get to choose?”

He stood as she moved, offering her a hand up off the floor. “Because it’s my turn. And only a few take out places have passed the damage checks.” Her eyes narrowed on him. “I want crepes.”

He hadn’t gathered the heart to tell her nowhere would be open at this time that did them when Gray dropped an agitated f-bomb from the adjoining room. Natsu laughed loudly with Lucy, hoping the ice freak could hear him through the wall.

-----------------

With a quick goodbye and collection of orders from their teammates, they set off down the canal streets to the centre of town where more food options were available. Lucy had opted for a jacket as the September air was now turning frigid and Lucy was the sort that if she didn’t have a hundred layers on in the colder months she’d complain until her fingers fell off. Except he’d never let that happen.

Her fingers met his as they walked, her pale hand clasping his tanned one together in an easy swing between them. It was a short walk to the town centre, and a small debate between the two ended them up at a small dumpling place being run out of the back of a pizza restaurant in an agreement made by two neighbourly owners for the time it took for Magnolia to rebuild.

“I’ve got Wendy some mango pudding.” She told him as she joined him standing outside the restaurant for their order to be prepared. “She liked it here last time, but it can be hit and miss.”

Natsu nodded, taking her hand back. Her skin felt cool in his, contrary to her having been inside moments ago, although his warmer temperature made it hard to tell sometimes. “Are you cold?”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just chilly.”

She didn’t need to ask. He ran his arms up and down hers, pulling her closer so she could benefit off his body heat.

“It’s only 50 degrees.”

He laughed at her trying to pretend it wasn’t a big deal. It always felt like a big deal to him when she couldn’t handle the winter months as well as him. He hated the way it made her slow in the mornings and shower ten minutes longer each time. It was nice that it made her cuddle up to him more. She was less of a physically affectionate person, whereas he naturally drifted towards it. At least with her anyway. He’d identified a similar thought sometime around her birthday just before the war.

She gave into his warmth, thinking they probably appeared silly to anyone that looked at them both rubbing her arms.

“After the heat from your book everything just feels a bit mediocre in comparison.” She admitted jokingly between them. “Don’t look at me like that, Natsu. I didn’t mean it to worry you.”

“I always worry about you.” His eyes dropped from hers, looking at the thick coat on her shoulders. He’d ceased warming her arms, stopped her biceps.

“Food order for Lucy.” A waiter called out from the restaurant doors, holding out two full paper bags.

Natsu dropped his hold, grabbing the food with a “Thanks” before they set off back.

The roads were quiet this time of night, and the currently displaced citizens temporarily living in Onibus meant the place was even less populated. Magnolia wasn’t meant to be quiet. Natsu was used to there being a hundred different sounds to choose from every time they walked down the main streets. Now all he could hear was the canal beneath their feet under the bridge and Lucy struggling to adjust her hold on the dumplings.

“Give it here.” Liberating the bag, he paused as she protested. She glared, pouting unconscious of where the streetlights managed to shadow the top portion of her face, making it all the more funny to him.

“What?”

He smirked, showing a cheeky canine. “Nothing.”

“Can we go home then. I’m freezing my butt off out here.” She waddled on the spot in a little Lucy-warming-up dance, trying to produce some friction between her hands. He only responded by watching, making a face that didn’t require him to verbalise to call her a weirdo. “Natsu please it’s practically Baltic.”

“I wanna sit for a bit.”

“The food will get cold.”

He ignored her, dumping the bags by the bridge side and sitting on the stone ledge, letting his legs dangle freely. She may have huffed and puffed behind him in annoyance, but knowing if she had would have required him to put in the effort to turn around. “I’ll warm it up later.” He excused when she finally joined him.

They sat for a small while, taking in the pleasures of a calm September night. The rebuild effort was taking a lot out of everyone at the guild and sometimes Natsu just needed a moment. He thought that after the war forced their lives to stop as it raged through everything they called home he could take a few moments to appreciate it occasionally. Even if it meant food would wait five minutes.

Beside him Lucy swung her legs, leaning back to watch the stars, her teeth absentmindedly chewing on her lip. He hadn’t meant to start watching her, but she had a way of capturing his attention sometimes, and it surprised him when she suddenly spoke.

“Do you think about END?” Lucy asked, eyes still buried in the night sky.

He felt himself frown. It was a valid question; he just never knew where she got them from when she came up with stuff like this. Normally it was more along the lines of ‘What do you think sheep count to go to sleep?’ and not the existential sort. He nodded. “Not so much when I’m in the shower, but when I’m hungry I know he needs feeding.”

She smiled. “I get it if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Actually, she really didn’t get it. She’d analysed every bit of her life since they found out her partner was END to see any way she could relate to what he was going through. Finding out something so big so far down the line felt earthshattering to her.

“I guess it answered some questions for me.” He shrugged and she turned, listening with care. “I didn’t know there was a part of me out there in some book, but it doesn’t feel strange.” He paused before he continued with a new thought. “Like when they said I’ve got that dysleck- dyslexic what’s-it.”

“Dyslexia.”

“Yeah. And I didn’t know letters weren’t meant to look like that because that’s all I know. It’s not as if dragons get dyslexia, so how was Igneel supposed to have spotted it when he was teaching me.”

She hummed, understanding better.

“END doesn’t feel separate to me. I just feel a little less tied down.” Natsu corrected himself when worry graced her features. “Not tied down. Just… I think it’s the knowing now that I was tied to that thing, tied to Zeref when he’s the bastard that’s been causing us trouble for so long. I’m happy I got to pound his face into the ground.”

“Without him I never would have met you.” Lucy spoke with a small smile. “I know it’s wrong for me to think about it like that when the whole of Fiore has been affected by what he’s done. I can’t help but want to be a little selfish. Without you I-”

“I get it.” He interrupted accidentally in his eagerness to agree. “I haven’t exactly processed what he did or what he is meant to mean to me. I don’t care about rushing on that. It gave me a chance to meet you, and Happy and everyone else. I wouldn’t be me without ya.”

He gathered her into his hold, her arms holding tight around his neck. She pressed her nose into Natsu’s collar, inhaling his warmth as he stroked her hair. They sat like that for a few minutes. The only presence around them on the cold street whatever wildlife hadn’t been scared off or killed in the war.

Finally, he pulled away. “Did you find the book after you lost it?”

Lucy shook her head. “It disintegrated, Natsu. It shouldn’t be possible for it to turn up again.”

He didn’t like the way her mouth had settled into a sharp line. His skin pricked with anxiety as a wave of stress washed over him. “Does me being END bother you? Like, dating me?”

“What?” She didn’t drop the line, instead directing it more towards him. “Why would you think that? I-” She allowed herself to breathe, refocusing herself on the conversation. “I love you. I love every part of you.”

“Every part?” He grinned into an innuendo, achieving the look of dismay he sought from his girlfriend.

“If I do break up with you it’ll be over you saying stuff like that in public. Maybe I’ll shack up with Cana.” She quickly backtracked. “No actually, she’d be worse.”

“Like you making gooey eyes at my chest when we’re at the guildhall is any different? Besides,” He leaned in closer, his breath meltingly warm against her lips. “We’re not in public. There’s no one here.”

She felt a warm hand place on her thigh, stroking above her jeans, the surprise of it sparking the same feeling Natsu could always elicit from her. Lips pressed to her own, paying particular attention to where she abused the skin frequently as he continued kissing her. Lucy pressed her chest closer to his with a tug on his jacket. His hand came up to stroke her cheek, taking his lips away to smile down at her. She felt herself getting enchanted, and it took a good effort for her to steel herself, brushing his hand off and standing up, too aware of the sharp drop into water 2 inches of a footstep wrong. “If you’re going to do that it’s not going to be where any peeping Tom can get a free show from their curtains. We’ve got food to deliver, come on.”

He followed her off the edge, picking up their food before slinging an arm around her shoulders. Their delay in grabbing dinner had meant a very hangry Gray and several apologies from Lucy, but they did eventually get a Natsu-rewarmed meal.

-----------------

Natsu yawned as he shuffled out of bed, stretching his arms over his head as he made his way to the bathroom in the dark. He’d heard the hour beep on Lucy’s bedside alarm clock, and by his guess it was about 2 AM. Erza, Gray, Wendy and the exceeds had left around 10, leaving him to distract Lucy from the hundred more books she insisted needed sorting tonight. He had managed to coax her into another rewatch of How to Train Your Dragon. A movie he insisted was a cinematic marvel and later when Lucy had introduced the books to him a literary marvel too.

Upon leaving the bathroom he glanced over to his girlfriend passed out in the bed. She’d encroached onto his side in the few minutes he had taken to pee and, worrying it might’ve meant she was seeking his heat, he decided on fetching another blanket to throw on top of the small mountain she required.

He opened her chest of drawers first, finding none of the thicker sort she preferred, before opening her wardrobe. He lifted the first of the fluffy ones, gathering the large monstrosity over his shoulder as his eye caught on the object that had sat beneath the blanket.

It was a book. One with worn brown leather bound to a thick manuscript of papers. It had a patiently decorated boarder with a small sun facing down from the top. If he’d analysed it closely he maybe could have seen that it had been read and re-read many times, but his attention lay solely on the front cover, and the black painted-on font that read ‘E.N.D’.

[tingyyytingsss]

Messing with Fairy tail ships; mostly minor characters)(please hold you applause till the end)

Cana and Bacchus

Idk something about her drinking so much she lost her "top" to him really spoke to me.

Sting and Minerva

Yukino and sting are tooooo vanilla. We need some spice, something hot. Something about having to follow his orders after spending years spitting on him would kick up some crazy tension.(come back to this)

Rogue and Yukino

They were both fighting over her...I feel like Rogue is a bit more emotionally engaged. He'd treat Yukino right or die trying(He's one of those extremely types😐)

Honorable mentions

Team natsu should've been a polycule😗

They went though all the trouble of making Makarov a dilf in the final season just to leave him single😫

The thunder legion functions as an open polycule

Lisana is into non wizards exclusively

[teleiapotami]

Synched Calendars

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Ship: Natsu x Lucy

Tags: Fluff, One Shot, Modern AU, Best Friends

Summary: The dangers of sharing a calendar with a man with no boundaries are varied.

Notes: Fluffy little one-shot to cleanse the palate during think Kinktober.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Natsu’s ears twitched at the sound of Lucy’s gentle giggle. He glanced back from his spot in line, frowning slightly when he saw a green-haired stranger leaning against the wall, flirting with his best friend. Worse, Lucy was covering her mouth with her fingertips, stifling the genuine laughter the man was drawing from her. It was a habit she fell into whenever she was trying to be cute.

He pushed the jealousy from his mind and focused on his task. Stepping up to the counter, he ordered the snacks Erza had sent him to fetch, then stepped out of line to wait some more. Lucy’s giggle floated across the room to him again. His brow furrowed as he watched the two of them trade phones. “Aw, what the hell,” he grumbled.

Unbidden, Gray’s most recent advice floated to the front of his brain. “You gotta speak up man. Lucy’s too smart to wait for you forever, and sooner or later, someone will snatch her out from under your nose.” Natsu crossed his arms, his frown deepening.

“Sir? Your order is ready.” Natsu shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up, grunting his thanks to the clerk. She gave him a wary smile before turning back to her work. Natsu rejoined his friends, pushing his irritation aside. The stranger was gone, and he refused to let his existence ruin a movie night with his friends.

  *~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*

“I don’t know, I thought it was pretty scary,” Lucy argued, still keeping her arms wrapped around herself where they’d been since the first jump scare of the movie.

Natsu rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but you get scared when your curtains blow too hard.” Lucy smacked him, laughing.

“Oh, hang on, sorry,” she mumbled when her phone dinged. She turned away from the group, leaving them to argue over the predictability of the outcome. Natsu watched her smile slightly and type something into her phone before she returned to the conversation.

“Everything okay?” he asked when she returned to his side. She nodded quickly, waving him off. His own phone dinged with a calendar alert, and he dug it out, glancing at it.

                Synched Calendar Update!

Saturday, 4 P.M.

            Date with Noah.

He frowned, swiping his phone open and punching the calendar app. The event was colored soft pink, marking it as one of Lucy’s events.

“Natsu? Come on, we are heading outside,” Erza called.

“Huh? Yeah, I’ll be right there. I just need to run to the bathroom,” he called, shoving his phone into his pocket. He watched the group move on, shooting Lucy a grin when she glanced back at him before following Gray out into the parking lot. Scanning the room, he found the green-haired head easily and made his way over.

  *~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*

Natsu rejoined the group, grinning brightly. “Hey, sorry. Line was longer than I expected,” he offered, stepping up beside Lucy. “So does anyone else want to go get something to eat?”

Lucy wrinkled her nose at him. “You literally ate two extra-large popcorn and three boxes of Hot Tamales!”

“So?” He didn’t see her point. She made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat. Her phone rang suddenly, pulling her away from the group again. He tried to listen to her conversation, but Gray grabbed him in a headlock, digging his knuckles into his scalp.

“Really? No, I didn’t mean to keep a secret…it just….I wasn’t sure myself. Well, thanks Noah….yeah.” Lucy hung up with a sigh, then turned and glared at the puff of dust that had become Natsu and Gray.

“Natsu! Can I talk to you?” His scruffy pink head popped up and he shoved Gray away, jogging over to her.

“What’s up?” he said innocently. Lucy grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him around the corner to the relative privacy of an alleyway.

“Natsu, did you just tell Noah that we are dating and cancel my date?”

“Yeah, why?” He crossed his arms and cocked his head. Lucy’s eyes flashed angrily.

“Why would you do that?!”

“What do you mean? Because you shouldn’t go out with other people when you’re already mine, obviously,” he said matter-of-factly. Lucy growled, pushing him.

“When exactly did we start dating?! I don’t remember ever saying I wanted to be with you!”

Natsu smirked at her and stepped closer. “Don’t you though? Cause I want to be with you,” he said quietly. Lucy took a step back, finding her back against the wall. He cupped her cheek gently and leaned down slowly. Lucy’s breathing hitched and she trembled.

“N-Natsu….don’t,” she whispered, covering his lips with her fingers gently. “I…I need time to think, okay?” He stepped away, swallowing his disappointment, and nodded once.

“Sure…yeah, I get it. Sorry. Find me later if you need to talk I guess,” he said softly, then left her alone, returning to the group. Lucy watched Gray elbow him and asked something, which Natsu shrugged off.

Of course she wanted to be with him. She had for as long as she could remember, but the idiot never seemed to notice her. Her hesitation was based solely on the fact that he had gone out of his way to cancel a date without talking to her about it at all.

Turning her options over in her mind, Lucy unlocked her phone and looked down at the calendar. She could call Noah back and explain the situation, going on the date with him solely to punish Natsu….or she could be with the man she’d wanted for years. Sighing, she swiped on the event to edit it.

Across the lot, Natsu dug his phone out once again, opening the notification.

Synched Calendar Update!

Saturday, 4 P.M.

            Date with Natsu.

Lucy’s delicate fingers slipped between his own as he read the update. He glanced over at her and smiled, leaning down to kiss her golden head. “Thanks…for giving me a chance.”

[flyingwargle]

natsu is in the nurse’s office while the aforementioned nurse is speaking with her brother in the hallway, their voices low with scattered words drifting toward her. she knows they're finished when hinata says, “thank you very much for all your help. i’ll take care of her.”

she hops off the cot and grabs her bag as he returns to her. “are we going home?” she mumbles.

“yeah, yamaguchi is waiting for us. thank you, again.” hinata bows to the nurse. “we’ll keep in touch.”

they exit the school building and head for the parking lot, where yamaguchi awaits. her brother was with him when he got the call, apparently. natsu gives him a small bow before climbing in the backseat, putting her bag in between her and hinata. yamaguchi starts the car. “should i just drop you off at home?”

“yes, please,” hinata says. his friend nods and starts driving toward the main road.

natsu avoids conversation by staring out the window, watching the mountain scenery blur by. hinata and yamaguchi make small talk, discussing a dinner with their friends over the weekend, and a possible guest appearance at a volleyball club before he returns to osaka. their home appears on the horizon, and natsu doesn’t wait for the engine to stop to unclick her seatbelt. “thank you, yama-nii.”

she reaches the front door first, fishes her keys out to unlock it. hinata joins her, kicks his shoes off after her. he switches on the lights after natsu walks by, heading straight to her room. “natsu, wait.”

hinata is quiet, patient. natsu rests a hand on her door, head bowed. “do you want to talk about it?” he asks. “the nurse said you collapsed from overworking. are you feeling pressured? is there anything you need help with?”

he sounds so concerned. she kind of wishes he wasn’t. “no.”

“you're probably hungry. i'll make dinner.”

she shrugs, entering her room without another word. behind the door, her brother calls out, “i’ll let you know once it’s ready!” it isn’t often that he comes home to visit, usually just for a few days at a time throughout the year. they call and text daily, and natsu is usually proud to be hinata shoyo’s younger sister.

but sometimes, it’s more of a burden than she’d like to admit.

not wanting to nap while she’s still sweaty, she sits on the floor with her phone, scrolling aimlessly through instagram. she and her teammates follow each other, tagged in one another’s photos from their hangouts, short clips from practice that show successful serves, sets, and spikes. she comes across a post from jva, which is a highlights reel of impressive plays during the last season. her brother’s miraculous save during the hornets game is one of the first shown.

it doesn’t make sense to be jealous. there’s nothing to compare; he’s a professional athlete, and she’s still in high school. just because they're related doesn’t mean she has the same jumping height, flexibility, or adaptability. his skills come from years of practice, discipline, and experience. while she does the same, it isn’t at the same level, not when she has school, friends, and other hobbies. she isn’t a volleyball idiot like her brother, even though she loves it, too. she isn’t him.

and yet people continue to think that she is.

her phone screen becomes blurry. natsu puts it aside, rubs her eyes to stop the tears, but they keep coming. her thoughts are a jumbled mess. i want to be like him.

 i’m not like him.

he’s on a different level than me, and i can’t reach it.

if i train hard enough, i could pass him.

he’s an asset to his team, and i’m just another spiker.

i can be valuable too, if i can do half the things he does.

i don’t want to embarrass him. i don’t want him to have a little sister who sucks at volleyball–

knocks interrupt her thoughts. “natsu?”

she buries her head under her blanket as the door opens. hinata hesitates for a moment before he asks, “what are you doing?”

“what do you want?” natsu asks, grateful that her voice didn’t waver.

"the fridge is empty, so i thought to order takeout." he sits on the edge of her bed. “what are you craving?”

“it doesn’t matter. whatever is okay.”

“all right.” still, he doesn’t leave.

this sucks. natsu needs to clear her nose, tears still pooling in her eyes, staining her bed sheet. when she exhales, it’s through a shudder, which is all her brother needs to hear. “you aren’t fine, natsu. will you talk to me about it? unless…” he falls silent. “unless the problem is me?”

“no.” she sniffles.

“it is. i know you’re terrible at lying.”

natsu throws the blanket off her head to face him, red-eyed, nose streaming. “fine, it is. these girls in my class keep comparing me to you, saying that i’m an embarrassment to the team, and i- i don’t deserve to be on the court with how terrible i am.” her words turn into a mumble. “my jump serves suck. my crosses are all over the place. i don’t know how to aim my wipes. then there’s you, who can do everything and more, and i- i’m just–“

“let me stop you there, natsu.” his hand grips her shoulder, firm and reassuring. “first, those girls don’t know anything; you can’t compare a high school athlete to a pro. second, don’t just focus on the negative, but the positive. your defense is solid, and so are your straights. i’ve seen you play – it’s because of you that your teammates can score. i know it might feel like you aren’t good enough, but are we, ever?”

“do you ever think that?” natsu murmurs.

“of course. i think of how powerful bokuto-san’s spikes are all the time, or how omi-san can get so many service aces, or how atsumu-san can pull off just about any set. and me? sure, i’m an all-rounder, but there’s nothing that i’m really good at–“

“no, that’s not true! you can score so many points with your wipes! and your jumping height only gets higher and higher, like you’ll touch the sky! and, and–“

hinata laughs, catching natsu by surprise. he smiles at her, raising his hand to ruffle her hair. “you should hear yourself. if you can say all of that to me and believe it, then you should believe me when i tell you what you’re good at. we all grow at our own pace, natsu. i know you feel pressed for time since you’re in your second year, but it’s okay. you’re doing all you can, and you don’t need to do more.”

“but what if the team loses because of me?” she whispers.

“there are six of you on the court. if you lose, it’s the team that loses.” he squeezes her shoulder. “tell me what you want to eat. while we wait, i can show you some clips of pros messing up to make you feel better."

“do they include miya-san?”

he grins. “of course.”

they settle at the table together, crowded around his tablet, waiting for the food to arrive. when it does, they eat, continue to laugh at miya (natsu makes sure to laugh at other players, too) and himself, the tension from earlier in the day fading.

before it’s time for bed, hinata approaches her. “natsu, don’t ever think we’re the same. that’s because you’re you, and you have your own way of playing. no matter how you play or what you do, i’ll always be proud of you.”

her hand is on the doorknob, a smile on her face. “thanks, nii-chan. i appreciate that.”

“get some rest. i’ll bring you to practice and show those girls a lesson.”

“no, nii-chan, you better not!” her laugh is a warm sound that echoes through the night.