Hello, everyone~ It's been so long since I've started a new story, I'm actually really nervous!

Starting a new story reminded me on how hard it is to think of a good summary.

I'm going to try to make each character in this fanfic as similar as I can make them to their actual character. There will be some exceptions on some parts, though.

I hope you all like this story, because I'm eager to write more of it.

That's all I have to say for now! Enjoy the first chapter, everyone. uwu

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, because if I did, the current arc in the anime wouldn't be as awful as it is.

Today was the day. Today was the day that Lucy Heartfilia was moving into her apartment and living alone for the first time.

It didn't matter that her mother might call her every few seconds or her father might do the exact opposite and never speak to her again.

She was living by herself now. She was going to have to follow the expectations and make adult-like decisions. Lucy was more than ready for it.

"Yes, Mom, I'm fine," the blonde spoke with a crooked neck, her phone snug in between her neck and shoulder.

She firmly held a box filled with her belongings, nervously eying the stairs. How could she climb up these stairs and avoid tipping backwards?

"Are you sure you don't want to come live with us?" her mother double-checked.

"I can't leave Magnolia, Mom," Lucy reminded her.

It was impossible for her to leave the town she grew up in. After hearing the news of moving countries due to her father's work, Lucy begged her parents for weeks to let her stay behind.

"Well, you have to grow up one day," her father stated with his permanent grimace when Lucy had pleaded for the third time that day.

He said no more, but Lucy knew that was his way of saying yes.

So the search for apartments began. It wasn't until a month later when she found the perfect one—it was cheap, too. When she was at last able to call that apartment hers, she jumped with joy.

She wanted to sprint to the apartment and already begin the adventure of living by herself.

"Are you sure you want to live by yourself?" her mother repeated on the phone.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Lucy assured positively. "I'm moving in right now so I'll talk to you later!"

She shifted the box towards the railing and held it up with her knee. She tapped the hang up button on her phone several times.

Saving the worst for last, she decided to start moving the boxes before lugging up her suitcases. Figuring out how she was going to pull up her suitcases up the stairs was something she didn't want to worry about yet.

Once Lucy reached the second floor of the apartment and pushed open the door to her new home, everything sank in.

She was on her own now; there was no going back.

Shyly peeking in as if she was sneaking inside someone's home, she entered her apartment and took a look at her new place.

"It's better than what Mom described it as," she smiled to herself as she finished her observation, the apartment smelling fresh and new.

Her arms began to ache due to the box in her hands. There were two doors she could pick from. To save the trouble, she went for the bedroom with the door wide open.

"Finally," she breathed out as she set the heavy box on her bed. She did a slow spin around her new room; she was in love with it already.

She sat on the edge of her bed with content when a thud came from the room with the closed door.

"Was that something in the other room?" she thought to herself, slowly standing up.

"Happy, what are you doing? Come here!" a muffled voice traveled through the wall.

Lucy stepped out of her room and stared at the closed white door curiously. Though she had no idea why she was doing this, she lifted a hand and brushed her knuckles on it.

"Are you the maintenance man?" she raised her voice so it could be heard from the other side of the door.

It was silent as her overly imaginative thoughts went in every direction at once. What if it was some insane serial killer behind the door?

Taking a deep breath, she touched the doorknob yet it turned on its own.

She took a startled step back and peered at the person exiting the room.

It was, in fact, a man but he did not look like a maintenance man. His regular clothes told her otherwise.

Adding on to that, he looked like he was her age. He had messy pink spikes as hair with a tan skin tone that weirdly enough matched.

His hazel orbs were intriguing, unintentionally begging her to look at them more. Lucy couldn't shake away the feeling that she had seen this face before.

"Maintenance man?" he repeated with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you the cleaning lady?"

"Cleaning lady?" she repeated this time, her eyebrows doing the same. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I live here, cleaning lady," he answered, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"H-Huh?!" she exclaimed. "I think you have the wrong apartment. This is where I live."

The man dug into his pocket and held up his key with numbers engraved into it, "My key says room 207."

"So does mine," she held up her key that looked exactly like his.

"When did you start living here?" he stared at her with a vacant expression.

"Today," she responded.

"Impossible," he said in disbelief.

They viewed each other expressionlessly. He broke the silence as though someone hauled him out of his trance.

"We have to talk to the landlord about this," he seized Lucy's wrist and pulled her along with him.

"Landlord!" he shouted out when they reached the lobby.

"What do you kids want?" a short old man with the name tag Makarov grumbled at the front desk.

"This girl and I were given the same apartment today," the man pointed to Lucy with his thumb.

"My name is Lucy," she muttered while rubbing her burning wrist due to his touch that he left behind.

"Is there another room for him?" Lucy asked. There was no way she was going to give up her apartment.

"Hey, I was at the apartment first," the pink-haired man stated.

"I need it more than you do," she retorted.

"Says who?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Me!" she countered.

"Enough!" Makarov barked. Lucy stared at him with large eyes; he sure sounded big although he was the size of a child.

Pulling out a binder, Makarov flipped through several laminated pages while skimming through them.

"There aren't any available rooms," he said bluntly, loudly shutting the binder.

"This can't be happening," Lucy's jaw dropped with horror.

"Are you saying I have to live with this girl?" the man inquired with his own dismay.

"My name is Lucy," she said again while rolling her eyes.

"I don't care if you live together as long as I get the monthly payment of 2000 Jewel," Makarov shrugged.

"2000 Jewel?!" the two teenagers yelled together.

"It was supposed to be 800 Jewel!" the man slammed a hand on the desk with frustration.

"I don't know where you live, but it's impossible to find 800 Jewel apartment in Magnolia," Makarov's eyes narrowed at the two.

Lucy listened to the man curse under his breath as he covered his face with a hand.

"I guess we have no choice then," he turned to her. "Let's have fun living together, Lucy."

"Y-You're serious?" she stuttered.

"I'm not paying for this apartment on my own," he claimed. "And I don't think you want to either."

"You're right," she sighed.

"Now that you're finished complaining and everything is settled, get out of here so I can sleep," Makarov demanded with an intimidating glare.

"Yes, sir!" they yelped, rushing out of the lobby.

They entered their apartment and stood in front of each other for several awkward moments.

"So, Luigi—"

"Lucy," she cut him off to correct him.

"Yeah, whatever," he waved her off. "This is going to be my side, alright?"

"We're going to have sides?" she inquired, already feeling annoyed with him. Her eyes followed him draw an imaginary line in the middle of the apartment.

"Does that bother you?" he looked at her with a taunt in the back of his eyes.

"No," she responded although it really did. Something about this guy made her think he was underestimating her.

"Good," he replied with a satisfied smile.

"What happens if we step on each other's side?" she questioned.

"The person has to wash all our dishes for three months," he answered.

"Three months?!" she exclaimed. She wasn't quite looking forward to cleaning her own dishes and she definitely did not want to clean twice as much.

"So there you have it," he presented, is bedroom door creaking open even though he wasn't near the door at all.

"Is that your cat?" she asked as a blue feline exited the room.

"His name is Happy," he informed, dipping down to hold his cat in his arms. He shuffled to the edge of the imaginary line, Lucy meeting up with him. Both of them were careful to not pass the line.

"He's cute," she complimented, petting Happy behind his ears.

"Looks like he doesn't like you," he chuckled as Happy instantly started to scratch Lucy's hands.

"Hey!" she jerked her hand away.

"He'll like you someday," he spoke half-heartedly, allowing Happy to jump out of his arms and roam around the apartment.

"Happy is on my side," Lucy watched Happy walked through her side.

"Happy doesn't count," he stated.

She couldn't hold back her aggravated sigh. She completely regretted not bringing her dog, Plue, along with her.

"Well, I'm going to my room," he told her while turning around.

"Wait!" she said before he closed the door.

"What?" he looked over his shoulder.

"I never got your name," she remarked.

"It's Natsu," he answered, shutting the door behind him.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Natsu," she mumbled, entering her room.

Falling into her bed, Lucy shoved her face into the bare mattress. She was exhausted; she would unpack tomorrow instead.

Her phone began to ring and as she read the caller ID, she felt her stress decrease just a little.

"Lu-chan, when are you letting me see your new apartment?" her best friend, Levy McGarden, instantly asked once Lucy answered.

"Uh," Lucy stuttered. How could she tell her best friend that she ended up sharing an apartment and living with someone else? Not only that, but living with aboy?

"Once I get everything cleaned up and decorated," Lucy bluffed.

"Hurry up, because I want to see it already," Levy urged her.

"It'll only be a few days," Lucy guaranteed, knowing that meant she was giving herself a few days to come up with another lie.

"It better be! Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow then," she spoke.

"See you tomorrow," Lucy said as she hung up.

"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu shouted in his room, giving the wall that separated them a knock.

"What?" she looked at the wall.

"Come out of your room," he ordered.

She forced herself to leave her bed and open her door.

"What do you wa—"

Lucy's eyes widened as she met a shirtless Natsu standing outside of his door.

"Put a shirt on!" she exclaimed, rotating around so she could hide her embarrassed face. She couldn't believe how quick it took for her face to warm up.

"I would, but Happy took it to your side," he complained.

It didn't take Lucy long to find his crumpled t-shirt laying on the floor. She strode to it, bending down to pick it up, and extending it out to him as she reached the edge of her line.

"H-Here," she said with her face withdrawn.

"Thanks," he responded, his fingers latching onto hers for several seconds. He returned to his room without another word.

"What is wrong with him? I can't believe him," she huffed, slamming her door shut as she entered her room once again.

Going back to her bed, she lied down in silence. This was not the adventure she wanted, but somewhere deep inside of her she knew she was eager to see where this new adventure would take her.

With that, the play button of Lucy's not so independent life was pressed.