One Of The Boys

The Best Friend

Because he was her best friend, and not because he was super nice and super cute and made her heart hammer in her chest. She had to repeat that sentence in her mind a couple times before she could even pretend to believe it.

"Sounds good," Gray responded, although his tone was still bitter. Probably still mad about whatever he and Natsu had argued about.

Giving a wave, Lucy headed off to the far end of the cafeteria; she plopped down beside Natsu tugging the salad she'd prepared the night before out of her bag and placing it in front of her. "What the hell are you and Gray fighting about?"

Natsu's expression was pure fury. "Don't wanna talk about it."

"Aw, come on! No one tells me anything."

Natsu took a bite of his burger—it was the daily special in the cafeteria—and gave Lucy a look. Instantly, fear ran down her spine; he looked absolutely livid, like he was made of pure fire. Her eyes widened at his expression, realizing just how mad he really was.

Natsu didn't ever really get mad, so to see him in this state was rather terrifying.

Lucy pulled the top off of her container, grabbing her fork and poking around at her salad. Green, healthy, bland. She sighed and took a bite of lettuce. Unsatisfying, especially with Natsu stuffing down two burgers right in front of her face. "Yeesh." She huffed out a breath at his dark look. "Must be pretty serious."

"I want to kill him."

"I'm guessing Gajeel and Laxus took his side, then, considering they're over there and we're over here?"

His cheeks were full, but she could tell he was still violently raging. "I wanna kill them, too."

Lucy took another bite of salad, nearly drooling as she watched Natsu dig into his second burger that he'd set aside. "So, what'd he do?"

Natsu's eyebrows tugged down as he chewed. "Something unforgivable."

"Listen, I'm gonna need you to be a bit more explicit. How am I supposed to take your side if I don't know what's going on?"

"Just trust me."

Lucy sighed. Looks like she wasn't going to find out what really went down. "Please tell me that you'll be friends again by the time school is over?"

Natsu made a face. "Why?"

"Because I told Gray that I'd help him practice at the diamond, and I was kinda hoping you'd come, and—"

Natsu's eyes widened slightly, and his voice was completely serious. "Don't go."

"What?"

"You heard me—don't go."

Lucy's shoulders dropped and she looked at him, head cocking to the side slightly. "Does that mean you'll still be fighting and you won't come?"

"I'm not going anywhere near that asshole," Natsu spat gruffly. He hesitated for a second, holding his burger close to his lips; his eyes were locked with hers. "Please don't go, Luce."

"Natsu," Lucy whined. "I'm not picking favorites, I just promised him, and—"

He shook his head. "It's not that. I don't think you're picking favorites. Just...please, can you just do me a favor and not go with him tonight and just not ask me a single question as to why I am asking you this?"

Lucy frowned at him, brown eyes searching his face. There was no sense of humor emitted into expression, not even a hint to his usual smirk—he was dead serious. Painfully serious. And his eyes were wide and his lips pulled down in the corners, just like they always did when he was upset. His body was tense with anger and his eyes were bloodshot and he looked drained.