A/N: Sometimes I wonder what I am writing,
And then I remember that I never know what I'm doing in life

The Eighth Grade Symptom

"I, The Celestial Maiden, challenge you, Great Thunder Dragon, to a fight" she shouted as loud as she could and sprung to her feet. "OI HEARTFILIA, DON'T YOU DARE!" [High school AU] LaLu Friendship

The day was incredibly warm, the air sticky, and the sun stood high in the afternoon sky. It was summer, in the midst of a minor heat wave, and most of the population of Magnolia, Japan, didn't bother to go out during the hottest time of the day. But for a few, who liked the quiet the siesta hours had to offer, it was the optimal time to go out and have a quaint hour of reading or shopping. That was the exact reason Lucy Heartfillia was out, to read her favourite book in peace without any of her excessively hyper friends barging into her house.

Clad in a simple short skirt, blue halter top, and thigh high boots, she sat under a large willow tree in Magnolia park. Her long hair was put up in a side ponytail to prevent it from obscuring her sight. While she read her book, she lazily dipped her hand in the lake, which she sat next to, and hummed a little tune to herself. While she dearly loved her friends and their unusual quirks and habits, she enjoyed a little peace and quiet from time to time.

She was currently reading the new book by one of her favourite writers, a (non)fiction book about the stars and the zodiacs. A wonderful textbook that even addressed the powers and personalities of the constellations. It amazed her, the wonders the universe held. The endless depths that existed in space, the power that the planets and stars held. The undiscovered phenomena that could amaze even the smartest and unfeeling.

It almost made her think back about the time in the eighth grade when she…

Lucy's eyes snapped open from her daydreaming state and she abruptly cut off her line of thoughts. An unwanted blush heated her cheeks and she shook her head quickly to rid them from her embarrassing memories. Her hands shook slightly as she forced her sight back on her book, her mind forcefully blocking out the images of her past that kept creeping up at from the corners of her brain. The only downside of reading her favourite books, was that the horrid memories of her embarrassing 'eight grade symptom' would flash past her eyes. The cringe worthy role playing game she would play with her best friends –some of those who still hadn't shaken the childish imaginations-.

Her eight grade symptom name? The celestial maiden. The princess and protector of the stars and the universe. Leader of the zodiac spirits, her power was to call forth the spirits of the twelve golden zodiacs and use them for battle. Each zodiac had their own power and personality –most of them inspired by her loving household- and most of them equally loving.

Lucy suppressed an embarrassed squeal when she thought back about the fictional characters that her friends and she had thought of as young kids and had taken on as an alter ego. They would spend weeks completely immersed in their role as their superhero –or even villain-, then battle it out on the playground and try to order the other smaller kids around. She wanted to roll over the small grass plain with her hands over her ears to stop the sounds of her own frantic screaming every time she thought about the horrid times. Her hands clamped down dangerously around her book and she desperately tried to calm her breathing.

"What are you getting all red about Heartfilia?"

The quite literally screamed at the husky voice that suddenly sounded next to her ear, and she scrambled back until her back connected painfully with the tree. Her eyes snapped open when she took a second to collect her bearings. Her large doe brown eyes stared back at the slightly narrowed orange ones of the one and only Laxus Dreyar. A senior at her high school, a delinquent, an ex-rule breaker, but nonetheless a good friend. He was obviously taking great pleasure in seeing her squeal and embarrass herself, which didn't sit all too well with her.

"Stop laughing Laxus-senpai!" she bit out and hid her face behind her book, the blush still very evident on her face. "And I wasn't blushing!"

He chuckled slowly and eased himself next to her against the tree. "I was only walking around when I saw you freaking out. You know, your face is very easy to read, you should work on your poker face," he continued to tease as he idly started pulling at the grass.

She bit down on her lip and forced herself not to burst at the rather annoying man. He was always challenging her in some way or the other, mocking her to the point her pride would burst and she would most likely lose whatever bet he had in store for her. But she wasn't going to buy it this time, she went to the park for a nice quaint hour of reading, and she would do exactly that. But as a single minute crept by ever so slowly, and Laxus, who was still sitting next to her, kept eyeing her from the corner of his eye, the urge to explode became very tempting. Her fingers clamped down on her novel and she refused to look up to meet his gaze.

"Come on Heartfilia, stop being stubborn, because I can see your eyes have been on the same sentence for the past five minutes," Laxus finally said and tried to pry the book out of her hands. "If you are going to continue being a little kid I will bring out the big guns," he warned with a slight devilish grin.

Lucy's eyes snapped to his and she scooted a little away from him. "What on earth do you mean by that?!" she stuttered slightly and narrowed her eyes, keeping her book closer to her chest.

He started barking with laughter and roughly started petting her head. "Stop acting so skittish Heartfilia, I lost interest in you when you grew that temper of yours. I like my girls more on the submissive side."

She rolled her eyes, "You're a pig and a caveman. A cavepig."

"You hurt my feelings," he mocked and dramatically grabbed his chest, faking heartbreak. "But in all seriousness, I will bring out the big guns. And they may not be perverted, but they are definitely ruthless. So spit it out, what were you blushing about?" he continued to prod. "It wasn't dirty fantasies about me, was it?" he mocked and started barking with laughter again.

"NO!" she immediately shouted and tried to punch his arm, which regrettably hurt her more than him. "I was most definitely not having 'dirty thoughts' about a cavepig, thank you very much. And I won't give into your threats! Besides, why would you care," she said none too harshly and swatted his fist away as he tried to playfully punch her back.

He leaned back again and folded his arms behind his head. "Well, it's been a slow day and seeing you blush must have meant you were thinking about something embarrassing. So, I could use a little comedy," he said idly and started pulling at the grass again.

"My embarrassment shouldn't suffice as your daily humour, so do the world a favour and bugger off," she said as she tried to focus on her book and a small ounce of pride swelled inside of her at the comeback.

He raised an amused brow and turned his face to look at her. "Feisty aren't we? But you might want to tone it down when you remember a little bet we made not long ago. I betted that you were too chicken to take a coin out of the wishing fountain, and you betted you weren't. Well, you were and as a reward I was allowed to ask you anything."

Lucy almost went white when she remembered the almost equally embarrassing memory of her trying to fish out a simple coin from the fountain, failing horribly, and then chickening out. She had so hoped that he had forgotten the whole ordeal and would leave her alone, but he had obviously not. She tried to hide her face behind her book again, which didn't work, and scowled when he easily lowered the book to reveal her head again.

"Don't want to get double punishment for chickening out again, would we?" he dared and inched closer.

She swiftly hit him with the spine of her book and huffed. "FINE! Geez, why you would want to know so bad is beyond me, but I guess I have to," she said unenthusiastically and crossed her arms over her chest as a small blush formed on her face again. "Just swear you won't tell anyone!"

He nodded, "Of course, but then you have to promise not to lie. Not that I couldn't probably read it from your face if it was a lie."

She quickly looked around the tree and their surroundings to see if there was anyone else she knew. After confirming that there wasn't, she took a deep breath and leaned slightly towards Laxus. "W-When I was the eighth grade, I had a magical alter ego called the Celestial Maiden, who would safe people with the power of the stars."

She was pretty sure that her face was as read as a tomato when she had finished whispering. One of her biggest secrets had just been spilled in front of the last person on earth to ever keep it, even if he had just gave her his word. She wanted to drop dead right then, and right there. She knew she could have lied and just make up a story, because he was not going to keep his end of the promice, but the 'celestial maiden' still affected her. There were three rules the she followed as her superhero alter ego: one, a celestial maiden streets her spirits with respect, two, a celestial maiden will not exploit her powers, three, a celestial maiden will never lie.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight when she heard his well-known chuckle start to rumble slowly in his chest. She covered her ears when that slow chuckle started to become full blown laughter. And she started squirming when Laxus was literally laughing out loud, slapping his hand on his knee, and was not even trying to hide his obvious amusements.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, more angry at herself than him really, and tried push her face in her book. Why did she not think of an alter ego that could just simply disappear.

Laxus tried his best to subsidize his maniacal laughter and –again- teasingly pat her shoulder. "Sorry Heartfilia, it's just," he had to pause to breath. "Thanks, I really needed a little humour today. It's just that that is so like you!"

She scrunched her brows and sat a little straighter to face him. "What do you mean, so like you?" she questioned and leaned closer to inspect his face.

He faced her with mirth still evident on his face and raised his hands in defence. "I mean, seriously? A celestial maiden? A superhero of the stars and summons spirits or something? There was literally no other power you would have wanted in the entire world!" He couldn't help but bark out in laughter again, slapping his hand against her shoulder again as she pouted.

She narrowed her eyes, "You're trying to tell me that you didn't have some kind of alter ego when you were young? I mean, with that ego of yours you must have! Some stupid hulk maniac that could control girls or something? Sound like you!" she confidently teased back and watched as he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Well, something like that." Her eyes went wide in surprise and before she could question, he continued. "To ease your embarrassment, yes I did have an alter ego, or eight grade symptom as many call it." He folded his arms behind his head and leaned against the tree. "The Lightning dragon slayer," he watched amused as she almost sparkled with interest. "But, tell anyone and I'll fry you! Oh, and I was good with the women, even as a dragon."

An almost maniacal grin spread across her face and she hid a small chuckle behind her hand. "So that's where you get your infamous threat from! And a dragon slayer? Like Natsu?" she said and raised a single amused brow.

"Where do you think that oaf gets his alter ego from? You really thought he was smart enough to think of such an awesome power?"

She started giggling, "An awesome power? Seems like you're not completely grown out of your eight grade symptom." She couldn't help but tease him as he talked about his embarrassing child powers.

He shrugged, seemingly unaffected, and sighed. "Well, unlike your stupid little powers, I just had a really well thought of and powerful ability. It just seems right to brag about it if we are talking about our little fantasies."

She narrowed her eyes, "My powers weren't little and they could definitely defeat your stupid idea of strength," she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and a smirk appeared on his face. "Well, care to give me a little demonstration? I would love to see you jump up and down, doing whatever you did."

She wanted to hit him in his smirking face and then shout at him, but a fleeting idea made her hold back her anger. A smirk of her own spread over her normally angelic features and she leisurely planted her hands on her hips. "Well, if you really want to."

He looked up at her answer and raised a bushy brow.

"I, THE CELESTIAL MAIDEN CHALLENGE YOU, GREAT DRAGON SLAYER OF LIGHTNING, TO A FIGHT!" she shouted as loud as she could and sprung to her feet, while Laxus' eyes widened. "YES! YOU HEARD ME RIGHT, I CHALLENGE YOU, LAXUS DREYAR, SELF PROCLAIMED LIGHTNING DRAGON SLAYER, TO A DUEL." She had started sprinting as she shouted his, and her, embarrassing eight grade symptom alter ego across the now busier park.

"Heartfilia don't you dare!" he hissed as his face took a serious expression and he leapt up from his sitting position. "You are embarrassing yourself the most!"

"DON'T CARE! WHO WANTS TO MEET THE MIGHTY DRAGON SLAYER OF LIGHTNING!" she continued to shout and jumped up and down as she pointed at Laxus, drawing the attention of some small kids. "MEET HIM KIDS, THE MAGICAL DRAGON SLAYER! HE DEFEAT EVIL AND HELPS CHILDREN! NOT TO MENTION, HE'S LOOKING FOR A PRINCESS!"

Laxus' eyes widened and he grimaced as three children already started tugging their mother towards him. "That little sly bunny," he hissed under his breath and internally cursed.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS HEARTFILIA!"