notes: thanks for making it to chapter three, and i apologize for taking fifty billion years to update this.

chapterthree

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Natsu was not happy. 'Happy' was an emotion not often felt since his arrival here at Camp Fairy Tail. And ever since he became partners with a certain gorgeous—er, disgusting Lucy Heartfilia.

"Can you just cooperate, so we can get this over with?" Lucy sighed, placing a hand on her hip—and no, his eyes did not linger for a just a second longer on the curve of her waist.

"Nope," Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked away towards the many scattered pairs of children, chattering in excitement with one another.

She frowned. "Stop being such a brat, Dragqueen. The sooner we do this, the less I have to see your ugly face."

He glared at her slanderous comment but sighed, blowing stray hair from his eyes. "What do I have to do?"

"Just answer my questions and memorize what I tell you."

"Che."

"Suck it up, princess."

"Whatever."

"Rude."

"Bitch."

"Ugh, you—" Her arms and hands flailed around, and he mentally snorted, thinking she looked quite ridiculous. She suddenly stilled, exhaling deeply, and said, "Never mind, just—what's your favorite color?"

Natsu grit his teeth. Stupid, dumbass, annoying icebreakers and stupid, irritating blonde girls wearing short shorts and tight shirts, who wouldn't just shut up and leave him alone. The whole concept of such activities were also so idiotic to him. Honestly, he really didn't give a shit about what someone's favorite food was or what anyone liked to do in their free time.

"Red."

"Okay, good. My favorite color is periwinkle."

He scoffed, "Periwinkle? What kind of dumbass color is that? Just say blue or something."

Her face darkened slightly. "It's not blue. It's periwinkle."

"Same shit."

"No, it's not! That's like saying red is the same as pink."

"That's stupid."

"You're stupid."

"This is stupid."

"I agree. Now shut up."

"Don't agree with me."

"What—stop being annoying."

"You're annoying."

"No, you're annoying."

"Fuck this. I'ma go eat a muffin." Natsu stood from his seat in the grass and stalked off towards the mess hall.

It took a moment for her to process what he had just said, as she sat by herself with a scowl on her brow. And then he heard her yell, "Wait—what about the icebreaker!?"

Natsu, having been completely unsuccessful in his quest for a nice blueberry muffin, bit into a chocolate chip bagel and continued to rummage around for a juice box. He turned, then, and was met by a very smug Gray.

"I see you're having a wonderful time with the children."

Natsu snorted, shoving past him towards the exit. "Yeah, pre-pubescent dickheads are just so fun."

"What a role model, you are," Gray's sarcasm was unappreciated, as always.

"Shut up. You get the lower level cute, drooling kids. I get... Horny, rebellious jerk-offs." He waved his hand in exasperated motions to further emphasize his point. "And at least your partner isn't secretly plotting to stab you in your sleep. With a plastic spork, I bet."

At this, Gray raised his eyebrows, curiosity piqued. "What—Juvia? Nah, she's cool. Weird, but not enough to conspire my murder."

They stepped out into the searing heat once again, and Natsu shielded his eyes from the initial contact, lips pressed into a thin line.

"Lucky you," he muttered.

"Why? What's wrong with Lucy?"

"She's a pain in the ass." This was a complete and utter understatement, he noted.

"But she's hot."

That was the type of comment, courtesy of one very annoying Gray, that gave him the strongest urge to break his friend's face. Just because he never understood why Natsu had such a rough time dealing with his unmovable partner. Of course, he couldn't agree more with the statement, as idiotic and shallow it may be, but how could he appreciate such a view when Lucy was being such a huge bitch to him?

"Natsu!"

Speak of the devil.

He turned, a fraction, towards her echoing voice. She was jogging from across the field, cheeks flushed pink from the scorching heat. And he did notice how her skin-tight T-shirt did little to hide her rather generous assets, especially with the way she was moving.

"Wow, thanks for—why am I not surprised," she gestured at the half-eaten bagel in his hand with exasperation. "Okay, forget that, go meet your kids at the cabin."

His eyebrows shot up. "What about the iceshitters?"

"Icebreakers," she quickly corrected. "And we finished them because your slow ass decided not to cooperate."

"Well that was fast."

"I told you." Lucy brandished a clipboard, probably feeling so proud of herself. Natsu snorted.

He grabbed the papers—attendance sheets, event lists, and the camp schedule—as she began to hand them to him without really looking.

"Wait," she grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "Don't forget this." A pink name tag displaying his name in neat black writing was pinned to the front of his shirt.

Natsu grabbed it and snarled. "We're the pink group?" He gave her an incredulous look.

Lucy only smiled, falsely sweet and venomous as ever. "Aren't you happy? It matches your hair."

"I hate you."

She sighed, continuing her masquerade of feigned innocence. "If you were only there at the icebreakers, you might have gotten the chance to choose a different color." She shrugged. "OH, WELL."

"I hate you."

How badly he desire to rip that smug curve of those soft, rosy lips off her pretty, little deceptive face.

"See you at the opening ceremony, partner." Seasoned with malice, she offered a lazy wave and flipped her shiny, saffron locks before strolling away. Man, she really knew how to work those shorts. As deceitful as she may be, she was still a female (and quite easy on the eyes, at that). And Natsu was still simply a male.

"I feel like my existence was nonexistent these past few minutes." Gray commented slowly.

Natsu dragged a hand through his dusty, salmon hair and shoved his friend roughly as he made his way to the boy's cabins.

He took a long, deep breath and pushed open the creaky door of Cabin 7. Immediately, he was greeted by a barrage of lumpy pillows and the rowdy babbling of six young boys. There were scattered shouts of 'Quiksilver would totally kick the crap outta Flash' and 'Oh, my GOD, you have Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!?' and Natsu wanted to scream because this was the type of shit that induced incapacitating headaches.

"Okay, the adult is here." He rallied the attention of all six boys. "Now if everyone could just kindly shut up—" Natsu eyed one of them, who was desperately trying to fit in his train of thought with one last breath. "—thank you, I'll take roll, and then you guys can do whatever you want 'til 5. Cool?"

They all grumbled and muttered complaints (probably) under their breath and sat down obediently, as Natsu flipped through the sheet of names.

Ah, six new names. Will they be too much for him to remember?

"Sting."

"Here."

He eyed the kid with the fiery eyes and wrote down 'blonde' next to his name.

"Rogue."

"Present."

And, whoa, this kid was the embodiment of gloomy. Natsu noted 'emo' on the list.

"Happy...?"

"Aye!"

...Okay. 'Cat' would be completely appropriate in this case, he thought, glancing at the cat-eared beanie on the kid's head.

"Romeo."

"Here."

With downcast eyes, he was a surprising paradox, shining with absolute determination burning through his veins. And for some reason, he felt no need to make a note for this one.

Then came a snort. "What kinda name is Romeo?"

"You're one to talk, Truman." Natsu easily countered, finishing off his scribblings.

"That's not even my—"

The miffed camp counselor promptly slammed him with deadly eye contact, and the pre-teen immediately closed his mouth.

"Okay, remember, 5PM. And if any one of you savage little human beings touches my bed," he pointed at the neatly made bundle of sheets, just for good measure. "You are sleeping outside tonight."

"This. This is the gayest shit ever." Laxus openly complained, followed by a slap on the arm and a scolding from a scowling Mirajane.

Natsu, for once, couldn't agree more with the blonde douchebag. The annual opening ceremony was as flamboyantly fruity as ever, chock full of awkward skits and terribly choreographed dance routines. Not to mention the main stars of such an outstanding show: sixteen camp counselors. Sixteen very unwilling counselors.

Of course, it progressed disastrously as expected. Gray felt the need to strip himself of his costume every fucking minute, Gajeel decided to sing along to the music with a voice that sounded absurdly similar to a dying beaver, Laxus just...can't dance, Cana was drunk somehow, and Erza displayed the most painfully horrendous acting to ever grace the children. That wasn't even worst of it.

One idiotically carefree Lucy strutted out on the stage clad in an Alice in Wondeland-esque dress, and it was like she practically owned the crowd. The kids loved her. All was going well, as Natsu watched incredulously from beside, impressed at her ability of connect so well to the children.

And then it happened.

Lucy walked out a little to far, and she got a little to excited, all to the point where her shoes kind of slipped out from under her. She went toppling over the edge, flailing and wide-eyed in panic.

And then, Natsu somehow caught her, like his arm had an instinctively heroic persona all on its own.

His hand gripped her slender forearm, and he pulled her up as his other hand braced her from behind. Lucy was hyperventilating, clinging to him like a lifeline, with ragged uneven breaths.

She was absolutely terrified.

And that scared him.

He chose to accompany her backstage after Erza and Jellal took over, and only in that moment of uneasy silence did he notice his own rapid heartbeat. Placing a hand on his chest, he exhaled heavily and took the only seat beside Lucy.

It was during these times that the gentleman in Natsu made his appearance, regardless of how much he hated a person.

A reassuring hand rested on her shoulder for a fraction a second before he jerked back, because what the hell was he about to do.

"You 'kay?" He asked slowly. She had seemingly calmed down, but her lengthy period of being taciturn was making him anxious.

Then, she turned to him and pointed a manicured finger at herself, brown eyes firm yet fearful. "I could have died. Oh, my God, I almost broke my neck and DIED." She continued to ramble on and on about her life flashing before her eyes and how she was so incredibly lucky.

Well. At least this was better than her uncharacteristic silence.

"Natsu," she suddenly called. He blinked at her with a bored expression. "Thank you."

He coughed awkwardly and mumbled a quick 'yeah' before covering his face with his hand and looking anywhere but at her. She was completely sincere, a light furrow on her perfectly shaped brows, pink lips in a slight pout, and he was scared shitless.

For the first time ever, Lucy Heartfilia was almost cute. Almost.

The two sat in a comfortable silence on the bench backstage, and the ceremony went on without them.

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tbc

notes: and yes, i made young!sting&rogue and human!happy. aren't i a genius.