A.N.: Hi! I just want to give a shout out to those of you that reviewed the second chapter! A special thank you to Lady Anime Cat, Sunshine972, yepiz4, AngelsRoseX, and clarencebeeznut.
Don't Know Nothing 'Bout Love
Chapter 3
Well maybe I'm in love
It was getting harder to keep his racing heart in check every time she smiled as the weeks passed. Everytime she looked up at him and smiled he had to look away, his cheeks feeling a little too hot.
She, however, didn't seem to notice any of his weird behavior around her. But everyone else did, and he hated them all for mocking him. Even the children at the daycare center seemed to notice, and it was driving him nuts!
"He likes her! He likes her! He likes her!" They chanted as Natsu watched Lucy from across the room brade a little girl's hair, a line of girls waiting for their turn. He glared at the children that were gathered around him.
"Shut up, you little devils!" But to his luck, a certain someone had been near them and heard what he had just said. He was barely given a chance to dotch the football that was flying his way and landing on his abdomen. Natsu was grunting in pain as he pressed his hands to his stomach. The children that stood around him shrieked as a certain red headed devil approached them.
"Natsu! Why are you yelling at the children?!" Natsu sweat dropped and thanked God that ball hadn't landed any further down his body as he realized who had thrown the ball.
Erza was fuming as she stood in front of Natsu, her arms crossed under her chest as she tapped her foot in front of her, waiting for answers.
Natsu looked down and mumbled. "They got on my nerves."
A little girl pouted and then mumbled, "We were just saying that he likes Lucy-nee!"
The other children nodded in agreement. "That's nothing bad." Another girl chimed in, "Natsu-nii just likes Lucy-nee!"
Erza raised an eyebrow as she stared at the children and then turned to find a flustered Natsu fidgeting on the spot and then glaring at the children. "I- I d-do not!"
Mira suddenly appeared beside Erza and giggled. "Who would have thought Natsu would fall for our sweet Lucy! And he is so in denial! He's so cute!"
Erza's eyes widened and then she chuckled. "I thought he was too dense and too stupid to ever like someone." She mused as she watched Natsu argue with the children over whether he liked Lucy or not.
"Oh my! They grow up so fast!" Mira exclaimed and Erza sighed at her exaggeration, as usual.
"Why don't you just tell Lucy- nee how you feel?!" A little boy exclaimed, and all the children looked up at him as if he were brilliant.
Natsu's eyes widened. "No! I can't. 'Cause I don't like her!"
"He does!" Mira exclaimed. "And quit denying it!"
The pink haired teenager sighed loudly before he muttered under his breath, "All of you are a real pain in the ass."
Erza coughed. "Would you like to repeat that, Natsu?" The tone in her voice made him freeze immediately. How the hell had she heard him?!
"No, ma'am!"
Erza nodded, eyeing him warily as Mira sweat dropped beside her. The children were all staring at them with wide eyes, but soon their attention went to a small, dark haired girl that was suddenly jumping up and down with enthusiasm.
"If he's too shy to tell Lucy-nee, we should tell her for him!" A little girl with a hat, that Natsu knew her name was Asuka, exclaimed. Natsu glared at the little devil as she grinned and then led the children to where Lucy was at.
"Wait!" Natsu yelled, but the children ignored him. He turned to look at Mira and Erza for help but they both shrugged. Mira was smiling innocently and Erza had a smug grin that made him sigh in defeat.
He ran after the children, barely making it to Lucy before them. "Lucy-nee! I need to-" Asuka exclaimed but Natsu took her in his arms and covered her mouth with his hand.
Lucy had just finished braiding a girl's hair into a side braid and was now looking up at Natsu and Asuka with a raised eyebrow. "What's going on?"
One of the children that had followed Asuka was about to speak but Natsu cut him off when he said, "Nothing! The kids and I are just playing around! Right?!"
The kids gave him a confused look and Asuka fidgeted in his arms as she struggled to tell Lucy what she had intended to.
And it was then, just before the kids could blurt out anything, that Gray and Loke appeared behind the group of children that claimed to know that Natsu liked Lucy. "We're about to start a game of tag! Who wants to join us?!" Gray announced and all the children's eyes seemed to brighten in excitement as the raised their small arms.
"We do! We do!"
They all ran after Gray and Loke, forgetting what they had intended to tell Lucy just a few minutes before. Natsu thanked God for his friends' interference, finally liking the idea of them also volunteering there.
Asuka then bit Natsu's hand, making the teenager cry out from the sudden pain. He let her down and she glared at him. "I want to play too, you know? Boys are really dumb sometimes." She then turned to look at Lucy and smiled slyly as she said, "Lucy-nee you should only date smart boys, not dumb ones like Natsu-nii!"
Lucy's eyes widened as she stared at Asuka. Natsu's eye twitched in annoyance as he watched the small girl grin and then run off towards the middle of the room, where the children were listening to Loke as he explained the rules for their game of tag.
The blonde girl slowly looked up at Natsu and giggled as she mumbled, "Asuka- chan is really something, huh?"
Natsu sighed loudly and nodded as he sat down beside her. Their shoulders brushed, but neither of them drew away. Natsu glanced over at her and his eyes widened when he found that she had already been looking his way. Lucy's eyes widened as well when his eyes locked on hers and she quickly looked down. Natsu could barely detect the tiniest hint of red in her cheeks, making his heart go wild.
He had been so focused on Lucy that he could barely make out the music Levy had played as the children began their game of tag. Lucy was watching the children play with a gentle smile on her face and Natsu couldn't tear his eyes away from her.
It was then that he saw Asuka run up to him. At first he didn't realize what was going on and then he felt her small hand on his shoulder. "You're it!"
Natsu's eyes widened and Lucy giggled when he shook his head. "I'm not playing!"
Asuka shrugged. "Now you are."
Natsu sighed, slowly standing up as he muttered, "You better run 'cause I'm getting you first."
Asuka ran as fast as her small legs would let her, laughing as Natsu chased after her, picking her up when he finally caught up to her. Her cheeks were red as she giggled, and he took her cowgirl hat off her head and placed it on his head. "I win." He stated and she continued giggling.
He put her down and placed her hat on her head again, planning to walk back to Lucy but he felt a hand on the back of his leg. "You're it again!" Asuka exclaimed, laughing hysterically as she ran off towards Lucy, sitting down on the blonde's legs as they both giggled.
Natsu closed his eyes and sighed. He was just too old for this. Yet he ran after children as he tagged them and got tagged back, Gray and Loke mocking him every time he was tagged.
While he stopped to take a breath, quite exhausted from chasing five and six year olds, he looked over at Lucy. She was still sitting down, watching them play tag. Asuka was no longer sitting on her lap, as she had rejoined the game. Her eyes landed on his and his heart skipped a beat when she smiled and raised her right hand as she gave him a thumbs up and then chuckled. Natsu grinned and shook his head, only looking away when he felt someone pull on his shirt. He looked down and found a little girl with teary eyes that apparently had just been tagged but couldn't run as fast as the other children and couldn't tag them back.
"We'll get all of them, alright?" The little girl nodded, and Natsu put her down and bent down in front of her, getting her to climb on his back. She was hesitant at first, but her small hands slowly landed on his shoulders and he picked her up with ease.
"Okay, you'll tell me who to get, okay?" He looked back at her and she gave him an enthusiastic nod.
He grinned and he heard her giggle as he ran after children.
After the last child left the room, all the volunteers began to clean up the mess the children had left. Lucy was picking up the legos that were left scattered around the room and Natsu left Gray to disconnect the Xbox by himself as he walked towards Lucy.
"Need help?" He asked as he bent down beside her. She looked up and gave him a small smile as she nodded, whispering a thank you.
"You're great with children." She suddenly told him. He looked up, shocked at her words and she shrugged. "You are. Maybe it's because you're so child like." She was laughing and he glared at her.
"I am not." He mumbled and she laughed some more.
"I was just kidding." She told him. He looked up at her but she was again looking down as she picked up the legos and placed them in their assigned box.
"You are too." He suddenly told her and she looked up with wide eyes. "I mean, they all love you. You really are great with children."
Her cheeks turned a light pink and she looked down as she whispered, "Thank you." She scratched the back of her neck and glanced back up at him as she said, "I really love interacting with children. It's always been a dream of mine to work with children when I grow older. There's really nothing better than seeing them smile and enjoy their time here." She looked down at the toy she had just picked up and smiled a small smile. "Most of them don't spend much time with their parents since they are always working. I guess I just see myself in them sometimes and want them to have a good time."
Natsu raised an eyebrow, wanting to ask what she meant but she looked up and grinned at him. He knew she was forcing herself to grin and maybe that was her way to tell him she was alright, but somehow he knew she wasn't.
She stood up once all the toys were back in the box and bent down to pick the box up but Natsu picked it up instead. "Where does it go?" He asked and she smiled, thanking him as she walked him over to the back of the room, where other boxes were lined up by category. Natsu placed the box down on the toy section and stood up to find Lucy still there.
"Are you close to finishing your community service?" She suddenly asked, looking down at her shoes.
His eyes widened at her sudden question and he felt something weird in his stomach when he noticed the soft pink color in her cheeks. She wanted to know how much more time he would be volunteering here?
When he didn't answer, Lucy glanced up at him and Natsu rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down. "Nah. I'm not even half way. Erza wants me to do a hundred hours. It includes both the required hours for graduation and the hours she added for all the trouble I've caused in school." He shrugged and Lucy giggled.
"I've heard from both Erza and Gray that you're your schools prankster." She told him and he grinned.
"The best in Fairy Tail high! The ice princess has fallen for every single one of my pranks." He told her with utmost pride and she laughed.
"You must get in a lot of trouble."
Natsu shrugged and then gave her a smug grin. "Only when I get caught."
She grinned and shook her head. "You really are something, Natsu Dragneel."
He fixed his scarf and chuckled. "What can I say, Lucy Heartfilia. I'm awesome like that."
She rolled her eyes and shoved him away as he laughed.
"Everyone! Gather up!" They suddenly heard Mira yell.
Natsu looked down at Lucy and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"
Lucy smiled. "Next weekend is Halloween. Mira wants us all to dress up. The kids will also come dressed up." She looked excited, her eyes brightening as she told him. He smiled back at her.
"Someone's excited." He noted and she looked down as she giggled.
"Just a little." She shrugged. "It's nice when the children get excited to see us all dressed up."
They soon stood by the middle of the room where all the volunteers had gathered, waiting for Mira to tell them what would be going on next weekend. Erza was standing right beside her, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Alright, as you all may already know, next weekend is Halloween!" Mira exclaimed, a little too excited.
Gajeel came to stand beside Natsu and grumbled, "This is gonna be a real pain in the ass."
Natsu grinned. "I don't know, maybe it'll be fun."
Gajeel glared at him. "You're just saying that 'cause you want to kiss up to bunny girl's ass."
Natsu's cheeks turned a deep red. "I don't! And why do you call her that?!"
Gajeel smirked. "Levy has a picture of her dressed up like a bunny. You shouldn't see that picture, though. You'll get too turned on. And nobody wants to see that."
He was laughing and Natsu's blush went up his ears and down his neck. "Damn you, bastard! What the hell are you saying?!"
"Natsu! Gajeel!" They both freezed at the sound of that voice. Erza glared at them. "Would you like to share with everyone what you two are talking about?"
Gajeel grinned, "Well…" he started and Natsu cursed him under his breath.
"No ma'am! We're sorry!" Natsu apologized, his cheeks a dark red as Erza nodded and told Mira to continue.
Mira smiled before she continued by saying, "I've decided we will all dress up as characters from Disney movies!"
Wendy and Chelia both cheered while Gajeel, Gray, and Loke grumbled incoherent words.
Mira was suddenly smiling smugly as she took out a paper. "And I have taken the responsibility to choose what character each of you will be dressing up as."
"Oh, God." Gajeel murmured. "That damn devil woman."
Natsu raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Gajeel meant and looked up to see Mira grinning.
"I already have all the costumes ready so you guys don't have to worry about it." She looked towards Erza as she said, "Erza will be joining us next week to make sure some of you are in your best behavior." Erza nodded at that, knowing very well some of the boys would complain about the costumes Mira had picked out for them and she had to make sure they followed the rules.
Mira looked down at the paper she held onto and smiled sweetly as she looked back up at them. "Let's begin then." Natsu could see Lucy giggle beside Levy. They both looked excited to learn who they'd be dressing up as. "Erza will be dressing up as princess Ariel." Erza's cheeks turned a light red and then she nodded, commenting that that was a perfect choice since her hair was red.
"And as her prince…" Mira began with a devious smile, getting the attention of every guy in the room. Natsu gulped, fearing to hear Mira say his name.
"God, I knew the she devil would do something like this." Gajeel murmured and both Loke and Gray nodded, both sweat dropping as Mira giggled.
"Gray will be prince Eric!" Gray's eyes widened, a look of horror on his face as he mumbled about being cursed by bad luck. The remaining boys sighed in relief.
"I will be dressing up as Alice in Wonderland." Mira announced, a wide smile on her face as her eyes landed on the boys. "And Loke will be dressing up as the Mad Hatter."
Loke frowned, clear disapproval in her choice as he looked up at her. "What!? I'm clearly the better looking guy here, so I should be a prince!"
Mira continued to smile, while Erza glared over at Loke. "The choice has been made, Loke! Do you want to continue arguing about this?"
Her eyes dared him to speak after her and Loke looked down and shook his head. "I'll be the Mad Hatter." He muttered in defeat.
Erza nodded and Mira clapped her hands, excited to hear him agree. "Great! Now, Wendy," the blue haired girl looked up excited as Mira grinned and said, "You'll be Queen Elsa!" Wendy's eyes widened and Chelia cheered her on and only stopped when Mira said, "Chelia you will be princess Anna."
The two girls squealed after that, jumping up and down as they talked about how cute they would look in their costumes.
Natsu chuckled when he saw Wendy get so excited.
"Next up is Levy." The short girl looked up, her eyes glinting with excitement. "You will be princess Belle." Levy smiled, jumping up and down as she told Lucy that that was her favorite princess.
"Oh God," Gajeel suddenly murmured and Natsu turned to look at him.
"What?"
Gajeel sighed. "I'm gonna be the Beast, aren't I?" He asked Mira, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes!" Mira winked. "But don't worry, you won't dress up like a beast, we don't want you scaring the kids." Natsu and Gray bursted out laughing making their taller friend glare at them. "You'll dress up in his human form!" Mira continued and Gajeel sighed loudly, not even trying to argue about it.
Levy had turned around to glance over at Gajeel, and Natsu barely noticed the small hint of a blush on his friend's cheeks as Levy grinned at him.
"Lucy!" Mira suddenly called, and the blonde looked up almost immediately after her name was called. "You will be princess Rapunzel!" Lucy's eyes widened and then she giggled, nodding. "And as her prince," Mira grinned widely as her eyes landed on Natsu and Lucy blushed. "Flynn Rider will of course be Natsu!"
Natsu's eyes widened as he stared blankly at Mira, his cheeks turning red as he looked over at Lucy. She smiled at him, her cheeks a dark red as she quickly looked down at Levy that was grinning from ear to ear and wiggling her eyebrows at Natsu.
He felt an arm wrap around his neck and he looked up to find a grinning Gray. "Aren't you a lucky guy?" He chuckled when Natsu pushed him off of him.
"I can't believe you'll be Flynn Rider." Loke murmured. "I mean, if anyone should be Flynn Rider it should be me. You're the ugliest one out of all of us so you should be the Mad Hatter."
Natsu glared at him and flipped him off. "Apparently, Mira thinks you're the ugliest one."
Loke's eyes narrowed. "No, she's clearly aware of how handsome I am. She only picked you as Flynn Rider so you could be paired up with Lucy. That damn matchmaker wanted you two together." Loke muttered, puffing his chest out.
Gajeel sighed. "You dorks need to shut the hell up. You should be glad you didn't get the Beast."
Loke glared at him. "You'll at least get to wear a nice suit! I'm stuck with an ugly hat and makeup!"
Gajeel chuckled. "Right. Man, that really sucks for you."
They all started laughing and Loke glared at them. "Assholes."
Natsu yawned as he walked out of his house and towards the closest Starbucks. He had promised to meet up there with Gray. He had convinced him to go out bowling with him and some of his friends from elementary. Natsu had just wanted to stay home and play video games all night, but his friend had been persistent. Damn icicle.
He smiled as he shoved his hand into his pants' front pockets. Tomorrow he would get to see Lucy again and she would be dressed up like a princess. And he would be her prince. Somehow that made his heartbeats thump faster and he felt like such a lovesick girl.
The moment he walked into Starbucks, he saw Lucy sitting in the corner of the room and his eyes widened. The room was crowded, and Lucy seemed to be quite absorbed in the book she was reading. He thought about going up to her table and saying hi but he shook his head and instead made his way towards the line to order.
As he waited in line, he couldn't help looking her way. She was brushing a strand of her golden blonde hair out of her eyes as she continued to read her book.
"May I take your order?" the girl behind the counter said. Natsu's head shot up in surprise and he grinned sheepishly at the girl as he looked up at the menu that hang behind her.
He glanced behind him and towards Lucy before he looked back at the cashier and made up his mind.
"Two coffees please," he said to the cashier.
He paid and then scooted to the side of the room while he waited for them to finish making his order.
"Ready to go, tabasco freak?" Natsu looked and saw Gray grinning at him as he walked toward his pink haired friend.
"Actually," Natsu started and gave his friend an apologetic look. "Change of plans. I'm going to spend the afternoon with Lucy."
Gray stared at him. "What?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.
Natsu shrugged and then moved his gaze to the back of the room where Lucy sat at still completely immersed in her book.
Gray followed his gaze and smirked. "She doesn't know you're here, does she?"
Natsu sighed and shook his head. "But I'm planning to go up to her as soon as my order is ready."
"Two coffees for Natsu!"
The girl behind the counter called out his name and set his two coffees on the table. Natsu looked at Gray, looked at his coffees, and sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I really want to spend some time with Lucy." He told his friend, reaching to pick up the two cups.
A nudge to his shoulder caused Natsu to glance over at Gray. "Good luck man. Don't do anything stupid, it'll cause a bad impression." He smirked and Natsu rolled his eyes.
"Yeah… thanks."
Gray nodded and waved goodbye as he walked away.
Natsu sighed as he picked up his coffees and made his way across the room, walking towards where Lucy was sitting.
Natsu was within a foot of her before Lucy noticed him and looked up from her book. She gave him a look of surprise as she blinked a few times.
"Hey," she said as she looked up at him, her lips moving to form a smile as Natsu set the coffees down on the table. "What are you doing here?"
Her smile was genuine, and Natsu felt some of the tension in his shoulders start to disappear. He shifted to sit on the chair that was facing her and grinned back.
"I was supposed to meet up here with Gray but there was a change of plans," he said, pushing one of the cups towards her. "It looks like you don't have anything to drink. Want one?"
There was a brief pause during which she looked at the coffee cup he had pushed in her direction, and then she looked up at him. For some reason, he felt his face heat up. Lucy had warm, chocolate colored eyes that made it impossible for him to look away.
"Thanks," she said, grabbing the cup. "Thanks, Natsu."
She seemed pleasantly surprised that he had bought her a cup of coffee, and Natsu grinned, glad he had chosen to stay here with her.
"Have you tried on your costume yet?" She suddenly asked as she took a sip from her coffee.
Natsu nodded. Mira had asked him to go to her house on Tuesday to try on the costume. It had fitted just right and she had been quite pleased by that. "Yeah. You?"
She nodded, smiling widely. "Yeah. I'm glad Mira picked me to dress up as Rapunzel." She looked down shyly, her cheeks breaking into a light blush. "She's my favorite princess."
Natsu broke into a grin, "It's gonna be fun tomorrow."
Lucy giggled, nodding again.
She then looked up at the clock that hang on the wall and sighed. "I need to head back home." She shoved the book she had been reading into her sling bag and then grabbed her cup of coffee. "Thanks again." She told him as she smiled.
Natsu stood up as well, his heart thumping madly as he looked down at her. "Can… Can I walk you home?"
Lucy's eyes widened, her cheeks burning up. Her lips then curled upwards to a soft smile as she nodded. "Yeah, that would be nice."
Natsu cleared his throat, pretty flustered. "Great." He looked down at her and then smiled when he caught her still looking up at him.
She quickly looked away and started walking towards the exit. Maneuvering his way around the tables and chairs, Natsu made it to the exit and opened the door for Lucy, who looked up at him with dark cheeks and thanked him. He stepped out after her, a wide grin taking form on his lips as he stepped into the autumn breeze.
Natsu looked down at Lucy curiously as they walked side by side through the streets. He noticed that she was wearing her school uniform. She had on a navy blue jacket with a skirt of the same color and a red tie.
She looked up at him and smiled when she noticed he had been staring at her uniform. "I go to an all girls private school." She told him as she looked down at her uniform. "Fairy Hills."
He nodded. He had heard of that high school before, Gajeel told him Levy went there as well.
"Are you…" He started and then he cleared his throat. "Are you a third year?" He asked.
She looked up at him, silently staring at him before she shook her head. "I'm a second year." She grinned. "I'm seventeen."
He chuckled and nodded. "Oh. I thought you were also a third year, like me."
Lucy smiled. "Should I call you senpai?" She covered her mouth when he gawked at her and started laughing.
"No way." He murmured and she laughed even harder.
They continued their walk in silence after that. Natsu didn't mind the silence, but he couldn't help wondering what was going on in Lucy's mind.
Lucy sighed when they turned down the street that led to the Heartfilia residence, sheepishly glancing up at Natsu. "We're here." She mumbled, stopping in front of the entrance gates.
Natsu's eyes widened and Lucy giggled. "It's humongous." He murmured and she nodded, looking down.
"Yeah." She looked over at the mansion she lived in and sighed again. "It's got both its good and bad qualities."
Natsu raised an eyebrow but Lucy shook her head and said, "Thanks for walking me home, Natsu." She smiled and his cheeks turned a deep red as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.
"No problem, Lucy. I just wanted to make sure you got home safe." Her cheeks flushed and she looked down, her bangs covering her wide eyes.
"Thanks again." Lucy whispered, looking up at him again. He nodded and she smiled.
She nodded then, stalling a second longer. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
He smiled. "Yeah."
Lucy nodded again, mumbling a small goodbye before turning and slowly making her way towards the guards at the gate. Natsu watched her walk away and she turned around just before walking into her home and waved at him, smiling before she closed the door behind her.
Natsu grinned to himself as he walked home, a little too excited for Halloween. He wanted to see Lucy in her costume. He wanted to be her prince. His cheeks turned a bright red and he shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?!
He stopped and looked up at the moon. He grinned and shook his head again. A month. That was all it had taken.
Just a month for him to fall for her.
Or maybe 8.2 seconds, but who was really counting?
Author's Note: What you think of the chaper?! Please leave a review and let me know! Thank you so much to all of you that favorited and followed my story!
Thanks for reading :)
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima!
Song: Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows
Blue