A/N: Thanks, guys, for the wonderful feedback! I really, really appreciate it. It keeps me going x3
And now I present you Chapter 2 of It Started With A Kiss!
Chapter 2: The Day Before Tomorrow
"Dammit! That's cheating!" Natsu seethed as he glared at the TV screen, pressing the game controller buttons rapidly.
Gray, who sat next to him, simply laughed. "I told you! The Ice Dragon rules over your puny Fire Dragon," he teased.
"Player 2: You Lose!"
Gray blinked at the screen in astonishment as Natsu let out a whoop, throwing his hands in the air. "Haha! I won, idiot!" he bragged, grinning at the boy next to him. "What was that about the Ice Dragon being better than the Fire Dragon?"
Gray glared at Natsu. "A rematch! I demand a rematch!" he growled, snapping his head back to the screen.
Natsu snickered as he hit the 'Again' selection. "Get ready to get your ass handed to you, stripper-man," he teased.
Gray scoffed. "I could say the same to you, hot head."
"3... 2... 1... START!"
The two once more broke out into rapid button pushing. Both of their eyebrows were knit together in tight concentration as one tried to beat the other.
Natsu let out yet another whoop as the game reminded Gray that he lost. He growled and slammed the controller down. "Hey, you'll break that!" Natsu growled.
Gray rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm gonna get something to eat," he grumbled, walking over to the door. Natsu muttered something about him being a 'total wimp' and that he 'can't even take a couple of losses'.
Gray, once in the kitchen, opened the pantry door and skimmed down the food, looking for something appetizing. At least, to him. He spotted a large bag of chips and snatched it from the shelf, popping it open. He grabbed a couple of the salty goodness and threw it into his mouth.
Practically kicking open the door, he waddled over to Natsu and plopped down. "Hey, gimme some of those!" Natsu whined, reaching over for the bag.
Gray lifted the bag away from Natsu's reach. "Fat chance!" he snorted. "Get your own!"
"This is my house! And that's my food!" Natsu hissed, still trying to snatch away the bag from Gray.
Gray simply knocked him away with his free hand. "Get off me, idiot! You'll spill them!" he yelled.
Natsu huffed, picking up his controller. "Winner gets the chips," he challenged with a grin.
Gray smirked at him. "Loser runs around outside in the park singing Yankee-doodle. While the winner records."
"You're on." The 'Again' button was hit and the rapid pushing of buttons soon followed after the countdown.
After a long 5 minutes of battling, the results of the fierce battle was announced. Natsu shot Gray a demonic grin. "I look forward to seeing you embarrass yourself in front of everyone," he snickered.
Gray glared fiercely at Natsu, pushing the chips to him. "Tch. And I thought I had you," he grumbled.
"Well~ You could it was a pretty close one!" Natsu exaggerated, leaning back with his hands behind his head. He looked behind him at the clock. "Hey, don't you have to go home soon?"
"Hah?" Gray looked back, his eyes widening at the time. "Shit! Ultear will kill me!" he yelped, scrambling up on his feet.
"Don't forget your clothes~!" Natsu called, grinning. He heard Gray's yelp of surprise coming from downstairs. A rush of footsteps came back up and the boy quickly put on his clothes. Gray gave him a wave as he rushed back downstairs and outside.
As the house went silent, Natsu groaned. "Now what?" he grumbled. "It's only 6... Wendy won't be home until 8, and Dad's staying at work until 9..." He got up and fell onto his bed with a sigh. After a few seconds of thought, he sat up quickly with an idea. "I'll go see if that Lucy chick is home!"
With that, he changed out of his pajamas, which he put on when him and Gray got back from the store, and into some decent clothes. He made sure to check if it was okay in case the disaster from yesterday wouldn't happened again. Nodding in approval, he grinned to himself as he rushed outside.
A rapid banging on the front door made Lucy jump in surprise. Holding her hand over her heart, she cautiously walked over to the door. Taking in a deep breath, she slowly opened it, only to blink in surprise at seeing a panting pink-haired boy grinning up at her.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing? Knocking on someones door like that..." she muttered, letting out a sigh of relief.
Natsu stared up at her with a confused expression. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with knocking on someones door?"
Lucy rolled her eyes, giving up on the subject. "So? What do you want?" she asked, leaning against the side of the door, arms crossed.
The boy pouted at her. "To hang out, of course! What other reason would there be?" he said bluntly.
Lucy looked at him in astonishment, but shook it off and smiled. "Sorry, I can't. Papa isn't home yet, and I can't let someone in without him knowing. Especially a boy. He'd kill me!" she joked. Natsu grinned mischievously at her. She blinked at him. "Wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"If you can't let me in, then let's hang out outside!" he laughed, grabbing her wrist and taking off with her.
"W-wait a second!" she yelped. "I can't leave, either! If I'm not home when h-"
"You'll be fine!" Natsu cut off, grinning back at her. "I'll make sure of that!"
Lucy felt her face heat up as she looked away. "Geez, do what you want..." Her response was another grin.
As they came to a walk, Natsu let go of her walk. Lucy looked around, her mouth gaping open in surprise.
To say it was beautiful was a bit of an understatement. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a shady forest-like area. She guessed it was some-what like a park, what with the wooden benches, tables and such. It was getting to be around winter, so the sun was going down, resulting in a variety of yellows, reds and oranges throughout the sky.
"Where is this?" she whispered. "It's stunning..."
Natsu was silent was for a few seconds, before telling her what exactly was going on. "Tomorrow is your first day at the school, right?" he asked. It was a rhetorical question, but she nodded anyways. He was quiet a few more seconds. "This school isn't exactly as perfect as you'd imagine." He turned to face her, a serious expression gracing his features. "I might not be able to talk to you much. If I do, you would probably get a bad experience." To say bad would be an understatement... he thought to himself. He wouldn't tell her that, though.
"So, you brought me here... why?" she asked hesitantly.
"This place is an excluded area..." he murmured. "Barely anyone knows of this place. The only other person, really, is my best friend, Gray. The guy you saw earlier this morning." He was quiet for, yet again, another few seconds. He shook off his serious aura and grinned at her. "So, I was thinking we could hang out here from now on. I don't want to be the reason for you to get..." he trailed off, like he was unsure how to put it.
Lucy let out a slight laugh. "In summary, you can't hang out with me in public, because I'd get bullied?" she guessed. Natsu hesitantly nodded, looking away from her with a pout. "Why though? Go through that trouble, I mean..."
Natsu gave her a weird look. "Huh? We're friends, aren't we?" He grinned at her. "I mean, you wouldn't be here right now if we weren't, right?"
Lucy blinked at him, followed by a giggle. "I guess you're right... And friends look out for each other, right?" He gave her a nod in response. Another silence continued, this time a bit longer. "But... why would I get bullied?" she asked.
Natsu sighed. "Let's just say... I'm way too loved," he groaned. Lucy rolled her eyes, knowing all too well that feeling. "So? What about you?" he suddenly asked, looking at her with a grin.
Lucy looked at him with a confused expression. "What about me...?" she asked. "What do you mean by that?"
Natsu chuckled. "Tell me about yourself! I'm sure you know enough about me right now."
Lucy laughed. "Well, what's there to know? I'm the same age as you, and I'm an only child," she said.
Natsu rolled his eyes. "What about in your old town? Did you have any close friends? I've never moved, really. I've basically been in this town my whole life," he said, walking over to a bench and sitting down.
Lucy followed, sitting next to him. "Yeah. I had a lot of friends. It was really hard to leave them behind. Especially my best friend, Levy. We were basically sisters!" she exclaimed. "Me and her both loved books. We would always gossip about the authors, and how the characters were so perfectly portrayed, and how perfectly the story line would drift one way to the other. She was the best person I knew..." she sighed happily, smiling as she recalled the events.
"Do you still talk to her?" Natsu asked, propping his head up with his hand.
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. We mostly text though. There hasn't been enough time to call each other, since I've been busy helping Papa and all..." She looked down, her dreamy smile replaced with a slight sadness. "I'm gonna miss her..."
"I think she's missing you too," Natsu suddenly said. Lucy turned to him as gave her a large smile. She softly smiled back, the sadness dispersing.
"Thanks, Natsu. You really are a good friend," she giggled.
Natsu scoffed. "Of course I am! I wouldn't want a friend of mine to be all sad and depressed. That'd make me a horrible friend!" he retorted.
Lucy laughed. "I guess you're right..." She looked up at the sky, noticing it was getting darker. Stars were beginning to show, as was the moon. "I think we should go. Papa will really kill me if I'm not home," she said, slightly shivering.
Natsu looked at her and nodded, standing up as she did. Her arms wrapped around herself, as it was chilly. He smiled and took off his hoodie, giving it to her. She looked at him, her mouth in a small 'o'. "Are you sure?" she asked, hesitantly reaching for it. His grin reassured her as he nodded. She smiled, taking the hoodie and putting it on. "Wow, this is really big on me... weird..."
He laughed at her. "Well, essentially. I am a guy," he said, puffing out his chest. He got a small smack on the arm in response, which made him laugh again. She joined him soon after.
When they reached the edge of the park, he stopped. She looked back at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, not really. Go on without me. I have something to do," he said. She frowned at him, but nodded anyways and began to walk off.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, jogging back over to him. "I need your number." He gave her a confused look. "So we can stay in touch, right?"
"Oh, yeah!" he laughed. "Do you have a pen and some paper or something?"
She snorted at him. "Of course not! I don't have my purse with me, since you practically dragged me away from my house."
"Oh right..." he muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he looked down at the pavement. "Ah!" he exclaimed after a few seconds. "There should be a pen in the pocket of my hoodie."
Lucy reached into the pocket and pulled out, as he said, a pen. She scribbled it a bit on her hand to make sure it was still working. "Okay, it works. Hold out your hand," she said. Going against her words, she grabbed his hand and wrote her number down. She grinned up at her. "I'll talk to you later, right?"
"Of course!" he said, grinning back at her. She gave him a little wave as she walked away. Natsu waved back at her, looking down at his hand with a grin.
It popped back into his mind he had some business to attend to. He clenched his hand into a fist, his jaw tightening. Hopefully, they wouldn't mind him being a bit late...
A/N: Hmmmm... I wonder where you're going, eh, Natsu? Hehehe ;D
So, how was it? Sorry if it's too short... To be honest, I'm even more nervous about this chapter -blushu- Especially the part when Natsu and Lucy "hang out" xD I'm kinda writing this on a whim. Once it gets to the school part ((next chapter)), I have it planned out for the most part.
Also! If anyone gets confused on anything, don't be afraid to ask! And if there are any spelling errors or anything grammar-wise, please make sure to point out. I would REALLY appreciate it, so I could go back and fix it, as well as learn from it.