Who Would Have Thought?

Summary: As a small child, Lucy only had a few, good friends. Her childhood was relatively normal and fun for a little girl. However, there was one person who would ruin it every chance he got by playing pranks on her, teasing her, and calling her cruel names. After 10 years apart, will love arise? Or will old habits begin to surface once again?

Chapter 1

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A blonde, young child around the age of 7 cried aloud as her frail body fell onto the hard ground in slight pain. "GET IT OFF OF ME! GET IT OOOOOOFFF!"

"NATSU!"

"Not again, Natsu..."

"Natsu, why are you always doing that?"

"Whaaat? It was only a prank! It's not my fault if she's such a big cry baby about it!"

A small boy with short, spiky orange hair rushed over to the crying blonde. "Lucy, Lucy! Calm down!"

The blonde girl named Lucy wiped her eyes from the tears that fell. "I-I CAN'T UNTIL YOU GET IT OUT! PLEASE, LOKE!"

The 'it" she was referring to was a plastic spider that sat right on her head that had been placed their as a prank by the pink haired boy, who was a year older than the blonde, that stood with others watching as Loke tried to comfort her.

"HURRRRY! I CAN FEEL IT CRAWLING AROUND ON MY HEAD!"

Obviously, the spider was a fake to the others, but Lucy didn't know that. She was too terrified and scared out of her wits to notice it wasn't moving at all despite all her constant fidgeting as Loke tried to remove it.

"Can you be still for a minute? I almost got it." Loke told her.

Lucy whined as she struggled to keep her body still as she felt the eight legged creature be removed from her hair. She slowly looked up to see Loke as he held the spider in his right hand and used his other to offer her up to her feet.

"It's gone now, Lucy. See? It was fake."

"Oh, well.. it felt real to me when it fell on my head!" Lucy pouted when she finally stood up with his help. "It was Natsu's again..."

Her glossy brown eyes met with a fierce glare that came from the Natsu himself. The glare turned into a harsh laugh as he pointed at her physical condition.

"Hey, look! She's all dirty. Now, she has to go home and get mommy to clean her up!"

"Would you cut it out, Natsu? That's enough pranks for today!" Loke scolded him with an angry tongue.

Natsu only shrugged. "Luigi's always such an easy target I couldn't pass it up! Besides, it's not my fault if she can't take a joke!"

Other kids around him laughed and giggled along with him. More and more children that were at the playground took notice and began to participate in the laughter. "HAHAHAHA!"

Lucy felt her entire face heat up and turn red from embarrassment. She held down her head to keep herself from crying any more than she already had.

The sight of her like that made Loke upset enough to ball up his fist and toss the fake spider in Natsu's direction. "You think this is funny-"

Before Loke could confront him, Lucy grabbed his free hand. "Don't worry about it, Loke. It's okay."

"But Lucy..." Loke stopped at the sight of her genuine smile that let him know that she was really alright aside from her scrapped up knees, dirty dress, and dried tears that stuck to her cheeks.

"Alright, want me to walk you home?"

"T-that would be nice. Thank you, Loke."

"LUCY!"

A blue haired child ran over to Lucy and Loke just before they could walk away from the playground. It seemed that she had been running for a while, because she was out of breath by the time she stopped.

"W-what happened? You look like crap!"

Loke made annoyed face at the girl and shook his head. "Is that supposed to make her feel better, Levy?"

"Hehe, I'm sorry.. but Lucy, are you alright? Did one of the guys find you in your hiding spot and tackle you or something? I told them you don't tackle people when you find them when playing hide and seek!"

"Y-yeah. I'm okay now. And no, it was actually-"

"Natsu put a fake spider on her head and made her think it was a real one." Loke finished for her.

"Oh, Natsu!" Levy fumed as she turned around to see the very boy facing a very angry looking red haired female. "Oooh, Erza is here! She'll put him in his place!"

"What's going on here? Who responsible for this!?" Erza asked in a demanding tone as her brown eyes scanned over the group of kids like a hawk. "If none of you tell me who did, I will assume ALL of you are responsible and thus punishment will distributed among ALL of you!"

In an instant, all fingers pointed toward Natsu who stood in the middle of them. With the fault placed on him, Natsu turned on the ones who gave him away. "Hey! Don't point at me!"

"Natsu! What have you done?" Erza's voice sent chills down Natsu's spine. "Explain right this instant, or you're in for a world of pain!"

"I-It was only a prank! All I did was put a stupid spider in her hair, and she freaked out!" Natsu yelled.

Erza growled as she took a step forward. Her action caused the group of kids to jump back in and a few others to run away screaming in terror.

"Huh? What did pinkie do this time?" A boy with black hair and dark blue eyes, who around the same age as Natsu, walked up to scene as some of the kids were running away. Surprising, he wore all his clothing except a shirt.

"Stop calling me that you walking ice box!" Natsu turned his attention to the boy that called him that ridiculous nickname.

"My name is Gray, pinkie!" The boy got right into his face with his fists raised.

"Ice box!"

"Pinkie!"

"ICE BOX! ICICLE! ICE CUBE!"

"THAT'S IT! YOU ASKED FOR IT!"

Erza, while those two began to argue and fight among themselves, turned to Lucy, Loke, and Levy. "Loke, you take Lucy home while I deal with this one."

"On it. Come on, Lucy." Loke took Lucy by the hand and began to walk away leaving the park as Erza turned back to Natsu. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him above the ground.

"HEY! LET ME GO!"

"Not before you learn your lesson about playing pranks on people! Especially young girls!"

~A few minutes later~

The walk to Lucy's home was relatively short since she lives close to the neighborhood playground. Her house is three stories high, picket gate surrounding the entire area, and only one car in the driveway. That meant only her mother was home.

Loke pulled open the gate that lead to the front door and allowed Lucy to go in first. He followed after and knocked on the front door. It was only seconds before the front door opened to reveal a tall, slender woman that closely resembled Lucy.

"M-mom. I'm home."

"Lucy!? What happened at the playground? You got dirt all over your new dress! And just look at your knees!" Her mother exclaimed as she got down to her knees to closely examine her daughter.

Lucy folded her arms angrily and held her head down. "It was stupid Natsu's fault! Again!"

Before her mother could respond, Lucy ran past her and into the house without even saying thank you and goodbye to Loke for what he had done for her.

"Mmm.." Standing to her feet, the mother smiled down at Loke who was still there. "Well, thank you, Loke, for walking her home."

"No problem, Mrs. Heartfilia." Loke said politely and smiled back.

She laughed lightly at his politeness and shook her head. "Please Loke, I told you before you can call me Layla, remember?"

Loke rubbed the back of his head and laughed as well. "Hehe, I guess I forgot. I'm sorry, Layla. Tell Lucy, I hope she feels better at school tomorrow."

"School tomorrow.. about that.. she may not be going to school around here much longer, because..." Layla begins to say, but she quickly changed her mind.

"What was that?" Loke asked when he noticed the look on her face.

Layla shook her head. "Umm.. no, it's nothing. I was just thinking out loud. You better get home now, Loke, it's starting to get dark out. Your parents are going to start worrying about you."

"Oh, right! Goodbye, Mrs. Heartfilia!" Loke turned on his heels and ran toward the gate and down the street.

"It's Lay... oh, never mind." Layla waved goodbye as she watched Loke disappear out of her view. She retreated back into her home and locked her front door.

"Lucy!" She then yelled throughout her home. She heard a response from upstairs.

"I'm up in my room!"

"Of course." Layla followed the voice upstairs and into a girl decorated bedroom. From there, she found her little one sitting on the edge of her bed. She was all cleaned up and in a fresh nightgown. However, the scrapes on her knees were still visible.

"Lucy, how are you feeling?" Layla asked after she took a spot by her daughter.

"I'm fine!" Lucy said as her nose sniffled.

"Are you sure? Want to tell me what happened at the playground today?" Layla remembered earlier that day she allowed her daughter to go to the local playground after elementary school.

"W-well.." Lucy began. "I was playing with Levy and the other kids. We were playing hide and seek, and when I was hiding, I was under the big oak tree. I felt something drop on my head and look up to see Natsu in the tree. He yelled that a spider landed in my head, and I got really, really scared, mommy."

Tears trickled down her face as she finished the story for her mother. Layla smiled warmly down at her and wiped the tears away. "Don't cry, sweetie. You're alright now. I'm sure Natsu was just teasing you."

"But mom! He always plays pranks on me! And most of them are really mean too!" Lucy whined as she buried her face into her mother's side.

Layla gently rubbed Lucy's back for comfort. "There, there, Lucy, dear.."

"Why does he always tease me, mom? I haven't done anything to him like that!"

"Well, I think he may like you, but he doesn't know any other way to express it."

By the moment the word "like you" left her mother's lips, Lucy sat straight up and looked her right in the eye. A small blush dashed across her face as she gave her mother a confused stare. "Are you kidding me, mommy? He probably doesn't even have the words like in his vocab... vocabul... vocabulary!"

Layla covered her mouth to lessen her laughter. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!" Lucy folded her arms across her tiny chest. "He doesn't like me! Why would anyone do something so mean to someone they like? They don't! They only do it to people they hate! That's why he always picks on me!"

"I don't know about that.. maybe he likes you like I said, and the only way he can express his feelings is through teasing you. I know it may seem hurtful and mean to you, but its his way of showing you how he feels about you."

"By hurting me?"

"I know it sounds like an awful way to do it, but its his way. It's the way most boys express their feelings about girls at a young age like you all are currently at."

"Uuuughhh! Mom, can we stop talking about icky boys right now?" Lucy begged. "Especially, Natsu!"

"Young boys are not that open with their feelings as young girls are, Lucy. You'll see that when you all become older in the future. Then boys wont be so icky to you anymore."

"MOOOOM!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Layla giggled teasingly.

"Say, mom?" She looked up at her mother's face with the saddest puppy dog look she could possibly make. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can I stay home from school, tomorrow? I don't feel like seeing him or the other kids there." Lucy pleaded hoping for a yes from her mother.

Layla didn't give an answer right away. She thought for a few moments before answering. "Oh, alright. It's alright with me."

"Yaaay! Thanks, mom!" Lucy hugged her mother tightly.

"Haha, but don't make it a habit. Alright, sweetie? Now, let me get dinner started before your dad gets home. He called just minutes before you came home, he said he had some big news for us when he makes it here."

"I can't wait!" Lucy watched with a smile as her mother left her room to return to kitchen downstairs to get dinner started. A huge sigh left Lucy's body as she flopped back on her bed with her arms spread out beside her.

"Well, I think he may like you.."

"The only way he can express his feelings is through teasing you.."

"Young boys are not that open with their feelings as young girls are, Lucy. You'll see that when you all become older in the future. Then boys wont be so icky to you anymore."

"Aaaah! No way, not in my a million years!" Lucy screamed in a low voice as her mother's words lingered in her mind. "He's nothing but a mean jerk! How could he ever like me, when he makes me cry almost everyday!?"

No one would do such mean things to someone they like, would they?

End. (Sorry for grammar and/or spelling mistakes)

A/N: I know I have a lot of other stories to update, but I had this story in my mind for a looooooooong time now, and if I didn't get it down, I would have lost it, T_T

No clue, if I'll keep this one or not, so why don't you decide? Keep or delete, xD

Remember!

~Reviews and comments are my drugs and alcohol~

Bye!