Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way, shape or form.

Edit: Henjin translates to weirdo~ (Or so it says in Google Translate) I hope you all enjoy!

Give Me That Book!

Her index finger carefully traced down the spine, as if she were touching a precious relic. A gratifying smile made its way to her lips as she pulled the piece of fiction out of its contained shelf. Turning it over to see the title, her smile grew wider. She flipped it open, beginning pore over the words written across the page, considering the text as a miraculous work of art.

Just as she was getting absorbed by the first chapter, a bang from the door and raucous chatting made its way to her ears. She scowled, angry at the mysterious teens who decided to bother the wonderful tranquility of the library. She glanced up to see the mass of testosterone-filled dumbasses heading in the opposite direction – to the comics. Fighting off the urge to smash their skulls in, she sighed, before turning back to her page.

A puff of breath on her neck made her squeak.

She frowned and turned her head to see some pink-haired weirdo leaning behind her, his eyes peering at the page she was up to – which happened to have some... explicit romantic elements in it. Noticing what he was doing, she slammed the door shut, and moved away from the stranger, who appeared to be smirking at her.

"What do you want?" she asked cautiously, her tone on the edge of dangerous. Unbeknownst to most men who try to make a move on her, she has a mean kick that could leave any man unable to bear children.

He gave a grin. "You just seemed really interested in your book, so I wanted to see what it was about. Not surprising though – romance ."

She huffed and spun on her heel, her feet already moving on their own accord. "Well, I never asked you for book taste henjin!"

"Next time I see you, I might just call you hentai-Lucy. Be warned!" he called out to her retreating form. She took no heed to the 'hentai' part, but was a mixture of befuddled and spooked when she heard her name. Just how did he know it?

..O..

"And that's just it Levy-chan! How on Earth did that henjin know my name? I've never even met the guy in my life!" she wailed, clasping onto her friend's arm as they walked through the mall. Being it summer vacation, many of their peers were also gathered in the large complex, enjoying their free time to the fullest.

Levy sighed, tempted to run away and find someone else to hang out with. But then, she never wanted to betray her best friend. "I don't know Lu-chan. Even I've never met him. Maybe he knows someone who knows you, and that's why he knows your name."

"Who could he possibly know that might know me? We're like those types of girls that try not to draw attention, remember? Especially after middle school..."

Levy nodded, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to think of some logic in it. "Don't hassle me! I already know we're like that. But... Well, he could know Erza, or Cana, or Mira, Juvia and Lisanna even. And practically everyone in the sch – no – the district knows the first three I listed."

A curious rush of wind passed Lucy, making her hair splay all over. She rushed to fix it, as another voice joined their little talk. "Juvia-san heard her name mentioned in your conversation, and would like to very much participate in whatever is troubling you both."

Lucy sighed, finishing the last few touches to her hair. "Juvia! How many times have I told you not too refer yourself in the third-person?"

"Many times, though Juvia can't break the habit just yet. Now, it seems that Lucy-san is having some problems. May Juvia help in any sort of way?"

Lucy huffed and leaned against a window of one of the stores. Her eyes were turned skywards. "Amazing how I don't want any attention anymore, especially thinking back to when I was younger. This actually seems ironic."

Levy managed to giggle. "Irony indeed. I can't even believe how conceited and bratty you were back then! You acted as if the entire universe revolved around you! Not to mention that you loved the guys' attention!"

"And now you seem to loathe it," Juvia added, a fond smile adorning her face. "Quite ironic."

The girls glanced at each other, a brief moment of silence between them before they all burst into fits of side-aching laughter. This continued for a little while, with some passersby giving them curious looks and disdaining whispers. They paid no attention to them though, continuing to laugh about some of the more stupid parts of their youth.

Unaware to the girls, a small group of boys, one of them being the mysterious henjin, had noticed them, and each of them had their curiosities piqued.

..O..

The three girls settled themselves in the comfy, plush armchairs of the library; the same one Lucy had been bugged in the day before. Each of them were captured by texts they were reading, so not much communication was made between them. The interior of the building was serene; the perfect place to get lost within the pages of a book.

That is, until three yankee-like men came parading in, one of them quite familiar to the blonde girl.

"Luigi-hentai!" a familiar voice called. Lucy did her best to ignore it, assuming that the boy was calling a person who goes by the name Luigi. She continued reading from where she paused – which was another romance scene – determined to get herself lost in its world. Moments after she resumed, the book was snatched out of her hands. She gasped, her eyes narrowing at the offender.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her tone steely. Levy and Juvia both halted their reading to watch the curious scene. Two other boys had crept behind each girl's armchair to do the exact same.

The henjin was reading her open page with slight interest. After he was done reading a few lines, he smirked, casually tossing the book to the ground. Lucy felt anger pump through her at the action; knowing full well that she might rage against the boy for mistreating books.

"Seriously Luigi, you might be more of a hentai than I originally thought!" he called out, his voice filled with amusement. Lucy reddened and fumed, her hand feeing the urge to clench into a fist which would then hit the mystery guy's face. "I mean, you always seem to be reading a lot of these books!"

"Give me that book!" she cried out, waving her hands to reach out and grapple the piece of fiction. The boy grinned and shook it in front of her like a treat, before whisking it away.

"I don't want you to read books like these Luigi," he mock-reprimanded, wagging a finger at her.

If it was even possible, Lucy reddened even further. The boys standing behind her friends were both smirking, on the edge of snickering actually. Levy glanced up at the pierced boy behind her and glared fiercely. Juvia glanced up and attempted to do the same for the one standing behind her, except for the fact that she was quite charmed by his appearance.

"My name isn't Luigi, pinky," she snidely commented back, putting emphasis on last word. It had the desired effect, because she noticed his right eye twitch slightly in annoyance. "Now why don't you give me that book before youand your henjin friends go run along to somewhere where bakas belong?"

Levy and Juvia grinned at her words, knowing that no-one would survive Lucy's hurtful attitude. They glanced at the pink-haired youth, who had stayed still on his spot. He continued staring at Lucy, not uttering any words. Lucy frowned and glared at him, trying to wait patiently for him to move.

The two friends of the boy exchanged knowing glances, before they both stepped forward and took one arm each. Natsu snapped out of his daze, his eyes staring at both of them menacingly.

"Will you let me go?"

The one that Juvia appeared to be entranced with snorted. "I think that we should take our leave before you scare off your girlfriend," he scoffed, making Natsu splutter unintelligibly. "C'mon Natsu. Stop being so infatuated with a girl that you just met yesterday. If you excuse us..."

With that, the three boys began to take their leave, the pierced friend, whom Levy had taken a disliking to, nodding at them curtly before roughly dragging pinky away. The three girls stared after them, confused about what had just happened. Once their figures were out of the front door, they all slumped back in their chairs, grabbing their books to continue reading.

But Lucy couldn't concentrate, when thoughts of a certain rosy-haired idiot swirled through her mind.

"So his name is Natsu," she quietly mused to herself, a small smile gracing her lips at the odd name, and thinking about how well it fit with the boy's persona.

..O..

Their meetings continued like that for the rest of the vacation. It started the day after Natsu's friends had dragged him away, when she spotted him nestled in her personal armchair. She had been thoroughly pissed off by the move, to which he didn't even care for.

After that, she came to sit in an armchair nearby him. But, much to her chagrin, he stole her book and began reading out loud some of the lines written in the book. She had been thoroughly embarrassed, as cries of 'give me that book!' echoed throughout the building.

As much as she hated to admit it, Natsu was a fun character to be with.

Day in, day out; he never failed to show up. Once she noticed that he wouldn't leave her, she mentally prepared herself each time she would enter the library for banter. Diligently, he would always be waiting for her, manga in hand and a goofy grin on his face.

She couldn't say that she wasn't charmed by it.

But it did still irritate her to no end.

The routine followed, with days turning into weeks, yet it each day was better than the last. They laughed and fought, both of them receiving many warnings to be quiet from knowing librarians.

Before they had both fathomed, it was finally the final day of summer vacation. Lucy walked up the familiar limestone steps, just as she did each day before. Even though a smile was worn on her face, a depressed feeling was kept bottled up within her. She entered the doors, nodded politely at the nice old ladies at the counter who returned it with smiles, and walked over to her favorite spot during the entire summer.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw no-one seated.

She walked towards the chair, and waved her hand idiotically in the space where a person was meant to be sitting. Realizing that the boy could not have just vanished like that, she looked around. At a glimpse of a scaly-looking scarf, Lucy began her chase.

She weaved through the seemingly ancient bookcases, around little old women who were reading their cookbooks and even leaped over some low stools obstructing her path. Now and then, she would see a hint of pink, or hear a mischievous chuckle; both things aggravating her to no end.

By the time she reached one of the more hidden bookshelves, she was panting. She knew that Natsu was behind the bookcase, but was a little too tired to chastise him just yet. She then began walking down the deserted aisle, trying to peek at any book which may have caught her eye.

Quickly, the book that she was about to take was grabbed from the other side. She pouted, trying to peek through the hole which was left by the empty slot, to see who had stolen it from her. She was received with a grin, before said book blocked her vision of the familiar face she wanted to see after.

A hand was covering some of the letters of the title, so that all it showed was: Hi.

The sides of her mouth quirked upwards, to reveal a slight smile making its way there. She shook her head and began looking at other books around her, not caring about what move the idiot might do next.

A cough resounded from the other side, and through another slot nearby, she saw a single name shown; Lucy.

She giggled a bit, losing a battle to not like what he was doing. Though, soon after, her stubbornness crept in, and she turned away to look at more books. Another cough came from the other side, and she moved to look at another hole. Peering to see the gap, she suppressed a gasp at what was read.

Date

She blushed and turned away, unsure of how to reply. She scrambled around, trying to see if she could find a book with the right message to give to him. Her heart was racing; thoughts of all her memories with him passing her mind.

It took a few minutes, with soft cursing heard from her when she would hit her head against the shelf. Once she had it in her hands, she stared at it for a moment, as if the book would decide her entire future. When she finished scrutinizing the text, she coughed from behind the first gap that she had peeked through.

Her single eye met a well-known eye, an expression of desperation held in the orb. She then shuffled to put the book towards the gap. She waited a moment, before she heard a victorious cry of 'yes!' from where he was. She giggled and took her book away, staring at the simple word written on the front.

Yes

She stood up from the kneeling position she found herself in, a giddy smile across her face. She walked towards the end of the aisle, ready to meet the guy she had accepted a date with. Almost by fate, both of them reached the end simultaneously.

No words were spoken between them, but Lucy did garner enough courage to grab a hold if his hand. They both began walking to the entrance with matching smiles of joy on their lips.

That day, Lucy began to think that book-stealing henjins weren't so bad after all, while Natsu began to hold a certain affinity for books.