Summary: Because "I like your eye" was the only possible pickup line he could think of. In which Natsu and Gajeel are roommates and a zombie obsession on Halloween night just might get one of them the girl.

For BittersweetSonata

Eat Your Heart Out

"Really? You're going to wear that?" Gajeel asks his roommate, who's currently wearing a scarily good zombie costume. Like, really? How did he manage to make a costume that good? And by himself no less. Gajeel just sighs, grumbling something low under his breath and fixing his Joker Costume.

He doesn't even want to go to this stupid costume party in the first place, but now he's going to be upstaged by his idiot roommate wearing a Zombie Costume? How unfair is that? Levy and Juvia better be happy that he loves them, otherwise he wouldn't even be going. Curse his girlfriend and best girl friend, this is not how he wanted to spend his Halloween. He just wanted to stay home and watch old horror films and their remakes, but no. "Gajeel, you have to come" and "but, Gajeel, you promised" and "please, Gajeel?" well fine.

Natsu quirks an eyebrow at his skeptical tone. "Umm, yeah?" he says slowly. "Why wouldn't I?" The pinkette laughs loudly. "Gajeel, I watch The Walking Dead every week. Did you honestly expect me to go as anything else?" Gajeel is stumped for the first time tonight. He hadn't been expecting that response at all, but Natsu isn't wrong. Gajeel has been subjected to The Walking Dead since season one, and, though he will never admit it, he loves the show just like his friend does. Just not quite as extremely.

"Zombie Hunter," Gajeel replies lamely, not sure what to say. Natsu may have won this round with his rare occurring logic, but Gajeel will win the next. Gajeel catches a glance at Natsu's right arm, or, what looks like his arm. The thing looks mangled and… frankly kind of gross. "Please tell me that's not your real arm," Gajeel says, grimacing and hoping not to ruin his make-up-and wow, he never thought he would say that before.

Gajeel reaches out to poke said arm, which is covered in fake cuts, bruises, and blood. He's a bit curious as to why it's hanging so limply, but doesn't have time to ask before his finger comes in contact with the limb. Which then proceeds to fall off, nearly giving him a heart attack.

Natsu screams, clutching at the stump where his arm used to be. His eyes are wide with horror, fingers grasping at empty space. A few drops of blood fall to the ground and splatter against the wood floor. Gajeel doesn't stop to think that he's going to have to clean that up later, that's not his biggest concern at the moment.

Gajeel screams too, because Natsu's arm just fell off. It actually fell off! What the hell? What the actual Hell? That is not supposed to happen! That is the opposite of what's supposed to happen! Arms are not supposed to just fall off like that. Nope, no this is bad. Holy fuck.

The arm doesn't scream, because… well, it's an arm. And arms don't scream. Gajeel would be a little bit more than concerned if the arm started screaming. He doesn't need that heart attack right now. One is enough for tonight.

"Gajeel," Natsu shouts, still clutching the stump. He doesn't look hurt or terrified anymore, just angry, and that's slightly reassuring. "You just made my arm fall off." He glares at his dark-haired friend, crossing his… arm over his chest and frowning. His foot starts tapping and Gajeel notices that he's missing a shoe. "How could you just make my arm fall off?"

Gajeel glares right back, crossing both of his arms a bit smugly. Take that, Natsu. "How was I supposed to know that it would fall off if I touched it? It's your fault for making it so that it could fall off." He gets right in Natsu's face, practically snarling at him. "You bastard."

Natsu shoves him back, growling right back. "You asshole," he snaps, "pick it up." The demand is clear, but Gajeel will be damned before he does what the younger male says.

"No," he spits. He vaguely notices that he sounds like a five year old, but he waves the thought away. It's not important right now. What is important is that he wins this argument. "Do it yourself."

Natsu growls, baring his teeth. "Gajeel, pick up my damn arm and put it back on me right now, or I swear I'll make you." Gajeel is about to protest, but Natsu cuts him off before he can start. "Do it or I'll tell Levy you ruined my costume!"

Gajeel freezes, eyeing Natsu wearily. "You wouldn't dare," he challenges, eyes narrowing.

Natsu smirks, canines flashing brightly against his bloodstained face. Gajeel really hopes that's just make-up. "Try me," the younger male says, grinning devilishly. Gajeel is about three hundred percent sure that Natsu is wearing the wrong costume. "Do you know how mad she'll be?" Natsu says, stepping forward. Gajeel steps back. "I bet she'll tell Erza. And you know how mad Erza gets when you ruin her parties.

Gajeel is not afraid of Natsu, not at all, but tattling to Levy changes everything. Because not only would she ignore him for a week, she would tell Juvia, who would tell Erza, who would kill him in the most twisted way possible for ruining Halloween. God Natsu is evil. Damn.

Dammit! Why can't he just stay home?

Natsu: Two. Gajeel: Zero. One more and he's out for the night.

They glare at each other for a bit longer, until Gajeel relents, grumbling curses at Natsu under his breath. "Fine," he growls, scooping up the fake arm. It's surprisingly realistic, which is sort of creepy. He doesn't even want to know where Natsu got this or why he has it. He asks anyway. "Where did you even get this."

"Some guy in an alley sold it to me for five dollars." Gajeel drops the arm, hands flying up. That's disgusting. Why would you buy something from some creepy guy? That's not a smart idea. "I'm joking," Natsu says, snickering.

Gajeel smacks his shoulder before stooping down to pick up the limb, again. He holds the arm up to Natsu's side, then stops. "Umm." His eyes flick from the arm to the stump, then back again. "How do I attach this?"

Natsu sighs. "You just slide it into the hole."

Gajeel draws back slightly. "What?" he asks.

Natsu stares at him. "You grab it with both hands, and then you slide it in." Gajeel blanches and Natsu bursts out laughing. "Okay, that sounded bad," he admits, "but that's what you have to do."

Gajeel successfully reattaches the arm. "You're an idiot," he tells Natsu.

"Hey, you're the one who knocked my arm off."

Touché.

Gajeel steps away from Natsu. "Well, are you ready to go? If we don't leave soon Erza's going to kill us." Natsu flinches and fixes his torn clothes with his real arm.

"Yeah. I feel like staying undead tonight."

Gajeel glances around the packed room. How does Levy even know this many people? Moreover, how did she fit so many people into her house? Gajeel shakes his head and runs a hand down his face.

He's had just about enough of this party. It's been two hours and he only saw his girlfriend for the first two minutes at most, then she and her frilly Fairy Costume disappeared into the crowd. Then he saw Juvia, but she hopped away in her Mermaid Costume, nearly tripping down the hallway. He also saw Gray, who is apparently supposed to be wearing a Jack Frost Costume, but was only wearing his underwear when Gajeel saw him. Lyon, who is wearing an Elsa Costume, kept trying to coerce Gray into taking pictures, which caused a fight to break out. And Jellal and Erza, picture perfect in their Prince and Princess Costumes, had gone spinning by about an hour ago.

There was also Bixlow in a full Knight suit, Evergreen as some sort of forest Nymph, Freed as himself, Lisanna as a cat, and Mira as a demon, which he found oddly fitting. He had even seen Laxus wearing a Banana Suit, something he wasn't expecting.

Gajeel sighs, looking around for someone interesting to talk to.

Natsu stumbles though the crowd, fake arm swinging around wildly, hitting a few people as the pink-haired boy maneuvered around people. His clothes look dirtier than usual, Gajeel can only imagine that Natsu ran into Gray and Lyon, and his face make-up is smeared around the edges, but he's smiling.

Bingo.

"Oi, Natsu," Gajeel shouts over the sound of "Thriller." Natsu whirls around, grinning when he sees it's Gajeel. Then he waves. With his right arm. The fake arm.

And he hits this blonde girl in the back of the head.

Gajeel practically bolts over to his idiot friend. Natsu's going to die. This girl is either going to kill him, or she's going to be hurt and Gajeel is going to have to kill him. This is not on his to-do list. Why does Natsu have to be stupid? Swinging that arm around and smacking girls. Great job, Natsu. Great job. Way to make friends.

Gajeel stops when he's only a few feet away, because the weirdest thing just happened.

The girl-who is probably quite pretty under the gruesome paint job-whirls around, glaring at Natsu.

With one eye. The other is popped out of the socket, hanging at an odd angle.

Oh for the love of God.

Natsu is openly gaping at the blonde, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He stands frozen for several long seconds, and the girl is just glaring, fuming, and looking ready to lash out. And Gajeel isn't sure what to do. He's too shocked to say or do anything at the moment. What are the chances of one zombie running into another?

"I like your eye," Natsu blurts out.

What the fuck? What the actual fuck? Gajeel stares at Natsu. Why would that be the first thing to come out of his mouth? That is no way to impress a girl, which Natsu is clearly trying to do.

The girl blinks, taken aback, and her anger melts away quickly. She blushes heavily, giggling. "Thanks," she says, smiling. "Your costumes pretty good too."

"Thanks," Natsu replies. "My name's Natsu." He holds out his hand, and she takes it.

"Lucy," she tells him, smiling. "So you like Zombies too?" she asks, eyes bright.

Natsu steps closer to her. "Yeah, I love them. Zombies are so cool, even if they are impossible." He rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "Do you… happen to watch The Walking Dead?"

"Every weekend," she says, taking a step towards him. "My roommate hates me. My favorite character is-"

"Glenn," he finishes for her. Her smile widens and she nods enthusiastically. "How did you make your eye, by the way."

She falls into a long rant about the art of prosthetic making, and Natsu follows along, adding his own input. Every so often they stop to laugh are say something flirty. And Natsu says something about taking a bite out of her and-oh. Oh. Gajeel tunes back in just in time to see both of them blushing like fools. But then she smiles, and Natsu smiles too. And Gajeel just stands there awkwardly, not sure what to do as the two flirt and talk about zombies. What a weird way to bond.

"So, are you doing anything tonight?" Natsu asks her. "I hear there's a Dead marathon on tonight and I wouldn't mind having someone to watch it with." Gajeel has never seen Natsu smile like that before, it's actually sort of weird.

Actually, what's weird is Gajeel just standing there watching two dorks flirt. That's what's weird.

"Well that depends," Lucy says. "Why me? Couldn't your friend here go?" Gajeel freezes as her eye locks with him. He wasn't expecting to be called out like that.

"He's not a fan," Natsu tells her. "Plus, I happen to like a girl with a brain," he replies. "So, assuming that you're that girl, would you like to come with me?"

"I would love to." She takes his fake hand in hers.

Gajeel is just about to leave when Natsu's arm falls off. His arm just falls off for no reason at all. Poor Natsu, he's going to lose a date because he couldn't keep his hands to himself.

Natsu curses, Lucy gasps, and Gajeel just stares.

"Well," Natsu says. "It looks like I'm not the only thing falling for you."

Happy Halloween! I hope it was alright! I wrote it super fast, so it's not the best :D Be sure to leave a review and check out my other stories!