Disclaimer: I don't own anything! I wish to hell that I did.

Remember: This is rated T for language. So yes, there will be some bad language dropped in this chapter.

Sorry this is so late! Enjoy and don't forget to review to tell me what you think!

Dangerous Waters

Chapter 2: Surprise

Laxus finished recounting what had happened between when he had left them and now before leaning back to study his friends' expressions. They currently sat inside the coffee shop that had been next to them when Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen caught up to Laxus. Evergreen stirred her ice tea with the straw, refusing to meet Laxus's eye. The normally over-excited and loud Bickslow was silently thinking.

The bravest of the three proved to be Freed who gave Laxus a kind look, "I suppose it's not the most ideal situation. I know that you had your heart set on Konzern, but things do happen. You owe it to yourself to enjoy yourself here."

"Yes," Evergreen nodded slowly, "We don't want you to be upset the entire summer."

Grunting, Laxus took a long sip of his coffee, dissecting his friends' advice internally. Bickslow slammed his hands on the table, startling Evergreen and Freed who glared daggers at him when they recovered from their shock. "Besides, you're no fun when you're mopey."

"Whatever," Laxus muttered, but he knew that they were right. There wasn't much he could do but accept his situation.

Four weeks later, the lacrosse training camp officially was coming up on the final stretch. With only one week left, Laxus watched as his team piled onto the fields and sat in the bleachers. They were trudging alone tiredly as Laxus had planned their mornings from six a.m. and none of the team members wanted to be there, with the exception of Freed and Bickslow who worshiped the ground that Laxus walked on. Apparently, the three weeks of training had yet to attune their bodies for early morning training. But it was more likely the late night partying that caused this.

Glaring at each one of them for wasting his time, Laxus silently took a role call to see if everyone had showed up like they were supposed. His first clue that someone was missing was when there was an eerie quietness among the players. More specifically, there weren't any fights breaking out.

Laxus eyed Gray Fullbuster who was unconsciously stripping off his shirt and his eyes narrowed, realizing who was missing, "GRAY, PUT THAT SHIRT BACK ON!" Laxus bellowed. Gray stopped short and cursed, quick to obey and put the aforementioned article of clothing back on as fast as he could muster. "AND WHERE THE HELL IS NATSU?"

Grey shrugged, now fully dressed but probably not for long, "The hell should I know?"

Scowling, Laxus decided that he would deal with Natsu's attendance later. They were wasting more and more time with all this. "Alright, get up, time to do some drills. Get your gear on and on the field. Oh, and in case you had yet to realize this, you miss a day of practice this week, you're going to get punished. You'll get an example tomorrow. Just because we have only five days left does not mean you can slack up, understand!?" The team was quick to show their captain that they understood.

Letting out a sigh as the rest of team headed to the field, Gray took out his cellphone. Loke fell into step with him, "Texting Natsu?"

"Yes," Gray snapped irritably. "That jackass is pushing me to the breaking point."

"If Laxus doesn't get there first," Loke joked with a smirk.

…

The vibration of his cellphone woke Natsu out of his nap. He groggily picked up his phone and stared at it lazily. There was a text from that stripping idiot, Gray. On instinct, he opened it and skimmed it.

Natsu, Laxus is on the hunt. Get your ass here now. Or you're screwed.

"Pfft," Natsu humphed, still sleepy from his nap, "I can take him. He doesn't scare me." Forgetting that he was taking a nap in a tree, Natsu shifted a little, causing him to roll off of the branch and onto something soft. A moan from under him made Natsu jump up. He gazed down to see a small blonde figure sprawled on the grass where he had just gotten up from. Realizing that he had fallen on this girl, he flashed as sheepish grin and offered his hand to help her up.

"What the hell," she moaned as she accepted his hand and let herself be pulled up. Still a little disoriented from nearly being crushed, she stumbled a little making Natsu quickly wrap his arms around her to keep her from falling over. "Who sleeps in a tree?" She demanded, glaring up at him once she was securely in his arms.

"Sorry?" Natsu managed out, trying to fight the blush that was creeping onto his face when he realized that he still had his arms around her and she was too distracted to notice. He let go, but not without a moment of hesitation. It kind of felt nice.

The blonde sighed, fixing her hair. Her angry expression had disappeared much to Natsu's relief. "It's fine. But do you make a habit of falling on people?"

Natsu grinned widely, "Only the cute ones that I want to be friends with!" Narrowing her eyes at him, she punched him hard in the arm causing him to jerk backwards. "Damn, girl," he groaned as he rubbed his arm. "If it bruises, I'm gonna sue!"

She rolled her eyes, "You'll live."

Pouting for a moment, Natsu shook it off and grinned again, offering his hand, "I'm Natsu Dragneel!"

"Lucy Heartfilia," she smiled back at him, shaking his hand.

"So you new to our little town?" Natsu asked, his mind trying to place her face.

Lucy nodded, "I'm here visiting…" She trailed off, faltering a little before finishing, "My older brother. But he wasn't home so I decided to explore the town." It felt weird saying that out loud. Good weird.

"Well, if it's your first time, then I can show you around," Natsu perked up, his grin widening if that was even possible.

"I don't know…" Lucy sounded unsure.

"Come on! It'll be great!" Natsu looked like he wasn't going to take no for an answer so she conceded, allowing him to grab her hand and drag her off while he rattled out information about the best places in Magnolia. Lucy didn't know what she was getting herself into when she decided to hang out with Natsu Dragneel.

After a few hours of Natsu dragging Lucy all over the city, the two teens finally settled into a small café for a well-deserved lunch. As Natsu hungrily ate away, Lucy sipped her lemonade and chuckled, wondering how she had somehow found herself in the company of such an overactive, full of energy boy. He barely had time to breath in between his bites.

"Geez, how can you eat that much?" Lucy inquired, raising an eyebrow.

His answer was merely a shrug as he continued to eat. Finally, it took a breather and gave a real answer that didn't really explain anything, "I'm an athlete."

"That doesn't answer anything," Lucy pointed out, rolling her eyes.

Chuckling, Natsu leaned back in his seat and chugged down his glass of coke. "Where are you from anyway?"

Lucy answered, "I live in a suburb outside of Fiore. Konzern."

Natsu looked thoughtful, "Sounds familiar." He paused for a moment trying to place where he had heard that name before. "So what are you doing in Magnolia?" He asked curiously.

Smacking her forehead, Lucy suppressed the urge to kick him, "I already told you." He knitted his eyebrows together, "When we first met?" When she saw that he had no recollection of this event, she sighed, "Ugh, you're impossible. Listen this time. I'm here to visit my brother."

"Your brother – wait why does he live here while you live somewhere else?" Natsu asked dumbly then recognizing that he had just overstepped, he quickly apologized. "Oh shit, I'm sorry, I didn't realize…" He was rambling, an embarrassed blush evident on his cheeks.

Lucy merely chuckled and waved it off, "It's not what you think. My parents aren't divorced. He's actually my half-brother. But he's the only sibling I have so I think of him as more of a full brother. Except for the fact that I only get to see him over the summers."

"Cool," Natsu nodded in understanding, "So you have what the same mother? Father?"

Raising an eyebrow, Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, "You're oddly snoopy."

"Hey, what can I say, I like to know everything about my friends," Natsu grinned as he pounded a fist into his palm, "that way, when I need to, I can take them down."

"I think you're confusing friends with enemies," Lucy noted, wondering how many screws loose this boy had.

"What's the difference?" Natsu blinked confused.

"Never mind," Lucy shook her head, afraid that this conversation would lead to her learning that Natsu was some serial killer or psycho murderer. "But to answer your question, we have the same mother. But she died when I was four."

Natsu's eyes widened before softening, "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Lucy smiled at him, "It was a long time ago. I miss her, but I can't wallow in sorrow all my life."

For some reason Lucy's smile made Natsu's lips curl into a warm smile. "But if you visit your brother every year, how come I've never seen you before?"

"Oh, this is my first time in Magnolia. Usually he comes to me. But my dad was kind of getting really uptight, so I needed to get out of there." Lucy explained, her eyes not meeting Natsu's.

Natsu let out a laugh, "You have one of those dads, huh? I can't relate. My dad's pretty cool. The one downside is that he disappears to business trips without even telling me." Lucy laughed at this. "No, I'm serious. One time he was gone for seven months."

"And how long did it take you to realize that he was gone?" Lucy couldn't help herself from asking while she giggled.

"Haha, very funny," Natsu made a face at her, his words dripping with sarcasm. Then he scratched the back of his head, murmuring sheepishly, "Two months." She laughed full-heartedly. Her laugh was melodious, sweet, and infectious. Natsu was sure that it could melt even the coldest of hearts.

Natsu decided that he adored her laugh.

/

Watching his team run laps, Laxus grunted his anger once more. Freed, his vice captain, stood at his side, taking copious notes on each of the member's weaknesses and strengths. Every time Laxus let out a sound, he would silently and questioningy look up at him before going back to his note taking before Laxus turned his glare onto him.

"He had one freaking job," Laxus gritted his teeth together, seething with anger. "And five freaking days left. What the hell am I going to do with that brat? I swear if he wasn't one of our best, he would be off the team right now."

He paused in thought as he watched Gray shove Lyon away as they ran, both already stripped down. "Wait a minute. We have me, Gray, and Gajeel –do we really need Natsu to score?" Laxus inquired, half knowing the answer while the other half begged himself to be wrong.

"Yes, we do," Freed said simply, not looking up from his notes, "I'm sorry, Captain, but our hands are tied. He's one of the best on the team. And his mere presence motivates Gray." He looked up and used the pen in his hand to point out where Gray had fallen behind from his usual position at the head of the pack. "It's already evident. You see with Natsu here, Gray pushes himself to work harder. Without him, Gray doesn't seem to care if he's running ahead of everyone else or if he scoring or not. It's a strange friendship those two have. But it benefits us to keep them both around."

Letting out a deep breath, Laxus grumbled, "Yeah, I know." He had noticed their rivalry when they first tried out for the team. And honestly, their motivation to get better had impressed Laxus. It made it clear that even though they were freshmen, they deserved to be on the team. It was also why it was so weird that Natsu hadn't even shown up for practice today. Usually both boys were present so that the other wouldn't get ahead.

As if reading his mind, Freed suggested, "Perhaps, he's sick? Or hungover?"

"Whatever," Laxus growled, "Either way, he's dead."

Natsu leaned back in his seat, a look of contentment on his face as he patted his full belly. He let out a happy sigh and grinned at his companion. "That was a good meal. I needed that after my morning run."

"You mean your morning run which ended with you in a tree?" Lucy teased.

"Yup," Natsu winked at her before holding out his hand to her, "Give me your phone." He ordered.

Not sure why she didn't even hesitate, Lucy complied, reaching into her purse and presenting him with her pink cased phone. Taking the phone into his hands, Natsu turned it over and inspected it. The case had a white snow man like creature –yet not a snow man –adorning it. It was his turn to raise a questioning eyebrow at her. "Cute?" It sounded more like a question than a comment. Then a cat like smirk formed on his lips, "Nope, I take it back, it's just creepy."

"Shut up," Lucy snapped, pouting.

Laughing, Natsu punched in a few numbers. A few seconds later, a vibration went off in his pocket. He handed his phone back to her, "There now you have my phone number." Showing her his phone, he added, "And I have yours. Which means –"

"Which means there's no escaping you," Lucy joked as she read the information that Natsu had put into his phone. She couldn't help but giggle at the description that he had put for himself. " 'Future Best Friend and Partner in Crime'? Seriously?"

"Fingers crossed," Natsu replied, winking at her.

Shaking her head at his antics, Lucy's eyes fell on the time and widened, "Crap, I should probably get going. It's pretty late."

Sitting up immediately, Natsu grabbed her hand, "Come on, stay a little longer! Don't leave me!" His voice came out as a low whine as he rested his head on the table, "I'm sooooo bored. All my friends are busy tonight. I have no one!"

"Is that supposed to make me feel bad for you?" Lucy demanded and Natsu nodded his head slowly, almost making it look like he could barely even do that. "Sorry, Natsu, but I have to go."

"Fine, fine," Natsu sulked a little as the waitress came and deposited the bill. He reached for his wallet. After a few moments, a look of dread came over his face which Lucy immediately recognized. "Oh crap," Natsu murmured, pained. "I'm so sorry, Luce…"

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy grabbed the bill and looked it over, annoyed. "Typical." She reached into her bag and took out her wallet.

"I promise next time's on me," Natsu tried to mend the situation.

"If there is a next time," Lucy said darkly.

"Luuuce~"

Storming into his house, Laxus bellowed so that his grandfather would know before he approached him, "HEY GRAMPS I'M HOME AND IN A CRAPPY MOOD!" Makarov appeared in the doorway, giving his grandson a stern look. Laxus brought the volume of his voice down a little, "Don't get in my way. Or say anything to me. I'm not in the mood."

He marched past Makarov who was about to open his mouth to say something but then thought better of it. Instead, he followed the teen into the kitchen as he continued to rant.

"Stupid freaking team, I don't know why I'm even doing this shitty camp," Laxus growled, "Those bastards don't even bother showing up. And when they do, they just end up shitting all over my hard work and goofing off. I swear if it wasn't illegal, I would have killed at least three-fourths of them already!"

"I'm so freaking done!" Laxus announced as he walked into the kitchen. He stopped mid sentence as he saw there was someone else in the kitchen sitting at the table. She stood up and turned to him with a big, bright, heart-melting smile.

"Hi, Laxus," Lucy greeted with a small wave.

Makarov appeared behind the dumbstruck Laxus, "Oh, I forget to tell you, we have company."

You see, i couldn't help myself. I had to put some NaLu as soon as possible. Hehe.

Anyways, leave a review and tell me what you think!