A/N: This fic is heavily inspired by the shoujo manga Hibi Chouchou. I started this fic as an AU for that series but during the writing process, it kinda turned away from HC's original story so I'm not so sure anymore if it's still considered an AU.

Anyway, I can assure you that you can enjoy this fic even without reading Hibi Chouchou (although I highly recommend that series). As long as you love Natsu and Lucy as much as I do, you can go ahead and read this fic.

This is also my very belated gift fic to my dear friend Richa (chanime / swordbreaker at tumblr).

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and Hibi Chouchou are owned by their respective manga-kas. I am simply a self-indulgent fan who gets inspired to write stories where I can both enjoy these great series at once.

"The Coach is strict." Natsu thought on his first day of sophomore year. The Karate club members just came back from summer training camp two days ago but the coach still insisted on resuming their club activities today. That means four laps around Fairy Academy grounds even before classes officially started.

They were already on their way back to the club room when Natsu noticed a shiny black sports car stopping at the front gates. It attracted a lot of attention as the other students turned around to look at it, mesmerized. When the back seat door opened, everyone seemed to have caught their breath as a blonde girl came out of it.

"Wow, she's pretty," Natsu heard a student say.

"Must be rich," He heard another say.

Natsu watched the new girl duck her head and hide behind her bangs, clearly not enjoying the attention. She walked fast to reach the school gates, gripping her bag strap tightly. The other students then went on with their lives and resumed whatever they were doing.

"Natsu, hurry up!" Gray called. "Classes start in 30 mins." Natsu turned around on his heel and resumed jogging, the image of the new girl still in his mind.

Natsu was yawning into his fist, trying to shake off the last bits of tiredness from morning practice, when the Mr. Clive, or Gildarts as he preferred to be called, ushered her in. The class was silent while she timidly wrote her name on the board. He waited in bated breath for her to finish writing "Lucy Heartfilia" on it.

"It's the new girl at the gates," he thought to himself.

"Hi," Lucy greeted softly at the class, "please take care of me."

There was a second of silence before the class erupted in cheer.

"So cute!" Natsu heard some boy in front say

"Heartfilia, as in Heartfilia Railways?" Levy, their class secretary, asked.

He saw Lucy avoid Levy's eyes for a second before she answered a simple "Yes."

"Rich kid," he heard Cana mutter, who sat right in front of him.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" It was Loke who asked, in a rather flirty tone. Lucy's cheeks turned pink at the question.

Natsu groaned inwardly. Leave it to Loke to ask what the whole boy population (except for him) wanted to know.

Lucky for the blushing girl, the teacher spoke over her students before she could answer. "Alright, save the questions for later."

He noted a relieved sigh escape Lucy's lips.

"As for your seat," Gildarts looked around the class, "you can take the free seat at the back." There was an encouraging smile on their teacher's face.

Wait a minute. The only free seat in the class was...

He whipped to the right and looked at the unoccupied seat beside him. No way.

She nodded at their teacher and started walking to his direction.

Their eyes met when she was close enough. He immediately clamp shut his mouth. Surely it wouldn't be proper to meet his new seatmate with his mouth open. She paused awkwardly on her tracks and looked down on her polished loafers.

Smooth Dragneel. Real smooth.

"Oh, don't worry about Natsu. He may have pink hair but he's rather behaved." Gildarts smirked and the class erupted in laughter once again. Clearly, the joke was not lost in them.

Only Lucy did not laugh at him, who then proceeded to take her designated seat. She hung her bag on the bag hook under the desk and sat primly on her chair.

"Leave me alone," he pouted at his classmates, trying hard to ignore the urge to look to his right, or rather at his new seatmate.

Which was a shame for him as he missed the small, amused smile that formed on Lucy's lips.

The rest of the morning was slow as most of their teachers just gave brief introductions of their subjects and distributed the syllabus.

And throughout that time, Natsu stole quick glances at his seatmate.

She had a very graceful air around her. Her hands moved softly as she wrote down on her notebooks and tucked a stray lock of hair over her ear.

When she's not writing or doing anything with her hands, she'd place them on her lap with her back straight against the backrest. She didn't slouch even if the teacher drawled endlessly. It was like she was from those Victorian movies Lisanna made him watch one time.

"Weird," he thought to himself. But she didn't seem like a snob like those characters in the movies so she's okay in his book.

Math was study hall as the new teacher won't come until the next day. It was then that he was caught staring at her. It caught both of them in surprise as in one exact moment, their eyes met. The quick movement of her shoulders told Natsu she was surprised too but she shyly held his gaze.

"Your hair..." she said, tentative as if she was testing the waters.

Natsu chuckled, already knowing what she meant before she finished. "Yeah, it's all natural. And don't worry. I'm used to people asking me about it. Just don't tell me it's girly."

"Why would I say that?" Lucy's brows lifted.

"Lots of people say pink a girly color," He answered sheepishly.

"Since when did colors get gendered? If anything, I'd say it's cool."

"Really?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah." Lucy nodded.

"Thanks." He grinned at her.

She smiled back at him. "You're welcome."

There it was again. She's a little weird with her formal words and manners but after talking to her, he realized Lucy wasn't so bad after all.

A/N2: First chapter is done! This fic will have six parts and will be updated every other day/ every two days. See you next chapter!