Jealousy- Fairy Tail

Chapter 1

Lucy woke up to sunlight streaming through the curtain. She rolled over and grunted, not wanting to get out of her warm bed, only to find a mop of pink hair on her pillow. Sitting up, Lucy glared at the intruder who was not only awake but grinning at her like a madman.

"Morning, Lucy," Natsu said as if he wasn't trespassing in her bed. The sunlight streaming through the curtains made Nastu's onyx eyes sparkle like black diamonds.

"Why are you in my bed?" Lucy asked, ignoring his distracting glittering eyes.

"Come on, Luce. You ask me this every morning," He murmured playfully.

"Cause every morning I find an unwanted visitor!" She snapped back at him.

"Sheesh! No need to yell. It's too early for that." Natsu yawned, snuggling deeper into her bed. Lucy was about to yell at him again but took a deep breath to calm down instead. Natsu had been coming into her house more and more often and it was starting to really piss her off, but she knew he meant no harm.

"I wouldn't need to yell if you would stop breaking in," She said, trying to keep the bite out of her words. "Now get out of my house. I need to get ready to go to the guild."

"Fine, but don't forget we're going on another mission today!" He said excitedly.

"What?" Lucy asked, a little exasperated. "We went on a mission yesterday."

"Yeah, but me and Happy already spent the reward money on food, so can we go on another one?" He was looking up at her with a poor attempt at puppy dog eyes.

Oh no, Lucy thought because even though he was an annoying, she still couldn't say no to his begging face.

"Fine," She gave in, pinching the bridge of her nose.  "You can go pick one out, but make sure it's not a long one. I don't feel like spending the night in a hotel."

"Hell yeah!" Natsu yelled, jumping up from the bed and laughing himself out the window. Lucy sent a string of curse words after him before starting her daily routine.

She got dressed quickly, making sure to grab her keys and whip before making her way out of the apartment. Besides running into her mean landlady and waving hello to the fishermen on the river, the walk to the guild was uneventful.

"Good morning!" Lucy called out as she entered the guild. People waved and greeted her back as she walked deeper inside, trying to spot the bright pink hair. When she couldn't find Natsu, she decided to sit down at the bar. No doubt her partner had gotten distracted by something stupid on the way to the guild.

"Good morning, Lucy," Mira said as Lucy sat down.

"Morning, Mira! Have you seen Natsu around?" She asked, glancing around the guild hall yet again. "He said he would meet me here, but I don't see him."

"Oh dear," Mira sighed. "He and Gray got into a fight. It got a little too serious, and now they're both in the infirmary." She motioned upstairs to the infirmary, and Lucy could help but feel a little irritated. Natsu was the one to wake her up this morning for a mission, but then he went and got himself put out of commission. Her footsteps echoed menacingly through the guild as Lucy stomped up the steps.

Of course the fire breathing idiot either didn't see the anger on her face or decided to ignore it. Either way Lucy almost growled at the way Natsu said "Yo!" when she walked in. He was swathed head to toe in bandages. Beside him, Gray was in a similar state, wrapped in so much white gauze that he looked like a mummy. How the two managed to beat each other up so bad in that short amount of time was beyond her.

Lucy glared at Natsu from across the room. "Yo? That's all you have to say?"

He grinned at her a little sheepishly. "My bad."

"We were supposed to go on a mission, Natsu! You were the one who came to my apartment so early just to tell me that!"

His sheepish smile grew a little bigger as he rubbed the back of his neck with a bandaged-covered hand. "Uh, well, about that. I kind of already booked the mission, so that means-"

"I have to go alone?" Lucy interrupted. She contemplated giving him her famous 'Lucy kick' but she doubted it would make her feel better.

"Are you upset?" He asked, the smile finally disappearing from his face.

"No."

"You're lying."

"Of course I'm lying!" She exploded. "You're the one that roped me into this quest and now I have to go alone?"

"I'm sorry." Natsu looked down his blanket and started playing with the corner of it.

Lucy softened at the pathetic sight. No matter how hard she tried, Lucy just couldn't stay mad at him. He was an annoying idiot but this idiot was also her best friend.

"Alright," she conceded. "What's the mission?"

Natsu immediately perked up and started smiling like his usual self. Lucy would be lying if she said his smile didn't make her heart flutter. She resolutely ignored the pounding in her chest and moved closer to Natsu who pulled out the mission flyer.

"Here," he said, handing her the paper.

She took it and quickly read it through. Some rich family was having a party and they wanted a wizard to perform some magic for entertainment. It seemed easy enough. Lucy looked for the location and found it was only an hour away by train. Huh. It looked like Natsu did listen when she told him to get a mission that wasn't far away. Now she felt kind of bad for getting so mad at him, but then again, he was an idiot so... whatever.
"Hmm, it's not too bad I guess." Lucy folded the paper and stuck it in her pocket. "I should probably get going then."

"Be careful, Luce." Natsu called after her as she made her way to the door.

"Don't worry. It's not a combat mission. I'll be fine," she told him.

Just as she turned the handle to open the door, Gray moaned from the bed next to Natsu. A second later, he shot up and started yelling. "Natsu! You idiot! Why the hell did you start that fight?"

"Huh? You started that fight, ice princess!" Natsu growled.

Uh-oh, Lucy thought before hightailing it out of there. She was not about the get caught in the crossfire of their stupid rivalry. Lucy ignored the sounds of fighting and screaming behind her as she made her way downstairs.

Since the mission wasn't an overnight one, Lucy decided to head straight to the train station instead of going home to pack. She already had her keys and whip which was really all she needed for this mission. As Lucy bought the ticket and boarded the train, she felt a little lonely. It was weird going on a mission without Natsu. It would be too quiet without his usual groaning from motion sickness. Ignoring the growing lump in her chest, Lucy started planning what entertainment her and her spirits could provide. She had a mission to complete.