Natsu sighed at the TV, completely done with whatever lame show was on. Things were just so boring today, after finishing up his boring daily classes, he found out that the majority of his friends are busy tonight.
It makes sense for them to be busy on a Tuesday afternoon, but still, everything is just so boring.
Natsu had hope that Gray would come through tonight, which means he's really desperate, but he's just so sick of doing nothing exciting!
The sound of keys got his attention, and he looked beyond the living room couch to see Gray collecting his belongings. "Hey, where are you goin?" Natsu didn't want to sound desperate, but he couldn't help himself.
"I'm gonna go pick up Juvia," He was just about to unlock the front door before Natsu suddenly stood up. The reaction was unexpected, stunning Gray into diverting his full attention to him.
"Why?" Was the first question to come out of Natsu's mouth, but then he realized how silly it sounded, "I mean, where?"
"What? She's at a friend's house, I'm just gonna get her and bring her here."
"Oh, so you guys will be here," Natsu felt reassured for a millisecond before he thought this over, "Wait… What're you guys gonna be doing here, exactly?"
Gray stared at him in silence for too long, waiting for things to get uncomfortable before he started to laugh under his breath, "Don't tell me you're jealous or something, dude-"
"Nope," Natsu shut that down real quick, "You've got nothin' I wanna be jealous of."
"Then what's your deal? You seem upset that I wanna hang out with my girlfriend-"
"I'm bored, okay? I wanted to do something, I dunno… You don't like to include me whenever you bring Juvia over."
Well obviously… Gray shook his head and unlocked the door to leave, "If you're bored, go do something somewhere else."
"I would've done that hours ago, if there was actually anything to do…"
"Ugh, see, this is why you need to start dating. I'm tired of you whining about this shit to me."
"I don't gotta date somebody to stop being bored..."
"Yeah you do, you need to find someone who'll tolerate you. But I don't know why I'm mentioning it, it's not like you're capable of actually attracting anyone."
Natsu's eyes narrowed, and folded his arms to send his roommate a glare, "I am attractive."
Gray laughed, "I can name 100 reasons why you're not attractive in the least."
"Yeah? Well people like me, I'm just single 'cause I got standards."
Gray's laughs doubled after hearing that, and he shook his head, "Dude, you have, like, no experience-"
"Actually, I do."
"Relationships within video games don't count."
"What!? I actually got real experience, you just don't believe me 'cause I'm not so annoyingly obvious about it." Natsu's retort went unnoticed as Gray walked out, leaving him to deal with this predicament on his own.
Weekdays always went this way, everyone is just so busy with school, and on the weekends most of his friends would rather use that time to visit their families or be with their significant others.
It was frustrating to say the least.
"At least you'll always have time for me," Natsu smiled at the cat that was curled up on the couch, only for the feline to get up and move away to a spot where his nap wouldn't be interrupted. "Oh… nevermind."
-
Natsu rolled his eyes at the sounds of Gray and Juvia entering and sitting in the kitchen. They never liked to hide any noises they made, it was always too easy for him to hear all their conversations…
"Wait, are you sure-"
"Yes, Juvia didn't want to say anything, but it's getting serious…"
They sounded to be talking about a heavy subject, and Natsu couldn't help but listen in.
"Well damn, that sucks…"
"Yes, it does," Juvia let out a deep sigh, "We don't know how to help her…"
"Did you guys talk to her in person?"
"Yes, she was inconsolable. It wasn't easy seeing her like that… Juvia wants to help her, but it's hard."
"I know, don't beat yourself up about it, just give her some time."
Natsu had no idea what they could be talking about, but he was honestly pretty curious right now. This was way more interesting than whatever was on TV.
"Juvia wants to go to her apartment later tonight, though. She says she wants to tell her parents, and the girls and I promised to be there to support her."
"Alright, I wanna check up on her too. Who would've thought Lucy of all people would be in a situation like this?"
"Yes, it's still so hard to fathom…"
Natsu's eyes widened and his breathing went quiet, his brain trying to catch up with his ears. They're talking about a girl named-
"Hey, what did you just say?" He stood up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, startling the couple for a second, "That name… you said-"
"Were you… eavesdropping?" Juvia gaped at him, though Natsu didn't seem worried about that right now,
"It's not like you guys were talking quietly… Look, I just need you to repeat that name."
"...Do you always eavesdrop on us-"
"We're talking about a girl that came to the back-to-school party," Accustomed to Natsu's antics by now, Gray got right to the point, "She's a close friend of Juvia's, we all went to high school together-"
"Yeah, I get that, I just need you to tell me her name…" Natsu sat at the counter with them, his face showing nothing but seriousness.
Gray and Juvia shared the same confused look before the latter shrugged, "Lucy... Her name is Lucy."
"Lucy…" The memories of the party started to replay in Natsu's mind. He recognized her from school, she was there with Cana, and she said it was her first party…
She seemed shy or something… We had a few drinks, and then-
He audibly gulped, his strange reaction now starting to become concerning. "What's wrong?" Gray shook his roommate out of the daze he fell into, "You remember her?"
"Yeah, I… What, uh, what happened to her?"
"Well, um…"
Gray turned to Juvia, who seemed rather reluctant to speak up, but Natsu looked really worried for some reason. "Don't tell anyone, but…" She looked away from his concerned face, still struggling with processing the news herself, "Well, Lucy had a one night stand with someone at the party, and now she's… she's pregnant…"
60 entire seconds passed with Natsu staring deep into Juvia's eyes, not uttering a single word or moving a single inch.
She quickly grew uncomfortable, and although it was extremely awkward, there was something about his reaction that had Gray narrowing his eyes, "...Natsu, is there something you know that we don't?"
"Huh?" Natsu shook his head to focus his thoughts, "Oh, I… I just…" His chest felt tight and his breathing ragged, "I… I…"
"Natsu?" Juvia snapped her fingers in his face, he just seemed to continuously go in and out of focus, "What's the matter?"
He shook his head once, twice, and then a third time before burying his face in his hands and letting out a strained groan. No way, this can't be…
"Hey, stop acting weird and say something…" Gray was annoyed with the way they were left on edge, "Dude-"
"I'm the one who had a one night stand with her."
"Huh?" Gray's eyebrows scrunched at first, but then realization hit, "Wait, you what!?"
"I… I saw her at the party…"
"Natsu, what!? Are you messing around right now?"
"No! She said it was her first party, and we had some drinks together-"
"You slept with Lucy?" Juvia's eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets, and she gasped when Natsu nodded.
"Yeah, it just happened so fast, I didn't-"
"She was drunk!" Juvia snapped, and was just about to lunge across the counter at him before her boyfriend grabbed her arm.
"I was drunk too!" Natsu defended, and Gray jumped in before things could get any worse,
"Okay, everyone calm down," He waited for the tension to dissipate before continuing, "Alright, so tell us exactly what went down at the party, Natsu."
"...Lucy was sitting here at the counter, I sat next to her and we talked for a bit. I don't remember how many drinks I had then, but we went and had some gin, and then I took her upstairs so we could try my vodka…"
"You took her to your room?" Juvia was still a little on the offense, "At what point were you drunk?"
"I dunno, I guess I was drunk since before I even spoke to her? We had a few beers together, and like I said, the gin and vodka- oh, and before that I gave her some Hennessy since she didn't like the beer… I was tipsy when I did that, I wouldn't have gotten her drunk like that or taken her to my room if I was in my right mind..."
"Okay, so the two of you got wasted, it happens," Gray continued to remain level headed, "What happened the morning after?"
"...She was gone. I honestly thought it was just a drunken dream once I woke up that morning."
"Lucy told me she woke up with a hangover and she left without talking to you because she was afraid…" Juvia sighed as she remembered the way her friend had been so distraught, "She didn't remember anything that happened that night, she remembered speaking with you but she couldn't remember your name."
Guilt seeped into Natsu's head as he thought about that. He wasn't that drunk when he spoke to Lucy that night, was he? He could've came to his senses and stopped things before they got too out of hand, couldn't he? I could've prevented this…
"Damn, so you actually have experience..." Gray mumbled, the looks he got making it clear that now is not the time for that, "Okay, anyway, do you distinctly remember messing around with Lucy that night?"
"Y-yeah..." It wasn't something Natsu usually talked about, he never thought he'd need to talk about this. It was just supposed to be a crazy one-night stand. "I remember everything."
"I just wanna make things clear because, well, how can we be sure it's yours, y'know?" Gray mostly mumbled the question to himself, but Juvia heard it loud and clear.
She gasped, and honestly looked offended, "Of course it's his baby, if he's the one who slept with her…"
"But can we really be sure? She got blackout drunk, and Natsu said she was gone when he woke up-"
"Lucy hasn't had any romantic experience in her life, that was the first and only time she's ever slept with someone," Juvia was quick to defend her friend, and it wasn't like this was anything Gray didn't already know. It's natural to have suspicion, but it's not their call to make, "First things first, Natsu and Lucy need to talk to each other."
"Um…" He knew she was right, but Natsu couldn't stop his throat from going dry, "...When?"
"You could do it today… Please? She's terrified, she needs to know that you'll be here for her and that she won't have to go through this alone… You are going to help her, right?"
"Y-yes…" It was still hard to truly process this, but Natsu knew that he had to take responsibility, no matter how difficult that may be, "She won't be alone."
"Good, being there for her is the right thing to do."
"R-right."
-
"I get that you're nervous, but you can't just not talk to him..."
"I-I know..."
"It's not ideal, but we're all friends here, it'll be okay."
"But..."
Natsu banged his head on the kitchen counter over and over, how could everyone forget that he could hear everything they were saying?
When Juvia suggested he talk with Lucy now, he didn't realize that she actually meant now, she really called her and told her to come over. And of course the poor girl must've been so overwhelmed, Gray and Juvia had to go pick her up themselves to give her the courage to actually come here.
And for the past 20 minutes, the three of them have been huddled in the living room going on and on about how utterly unfortunate this situation is, all within earshot of Natsu.
"Just go and talk to him, he's not gonna bite you!"
"Yes, there's no reason to be afraid, Natsu is a nice person.
"B-but... this is so awkward..."
"Guys," He stood up, and was honestly ready to just walk in there and get this over with, "Are we gonna talk or what-"
"S-sorry," Suddenly, Lucy poked her head into the kitchen, and immediately turned bright red, "I mean… I-"
"Oh, hey… You don't gotta be sorry…"
"O-oh, okay…"
It was extremely awkward, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.
"Well, uh…" Lucy rubbed at her arms, trying her best to keep eye contact, "Your name is Natsu, right?"
"Yeah… Look, I'm sorry about getting drunk and stuff."
"Me too…"
Lucy's arm rubbing turned into light scratching, her skin gradually getting redder.
Natsu noticed, but ignored it. She's clearly just nervous now. "So… that night…"
"We slept together."
"Yeah, and you're pregnant."
"Yep."
The room went silent again, the two of them staring at each other with nothing to say. There was a lot to talk about, yet no right way to say it.
Natsu folded his arms and let out a sigh, the sound coming out a little huskier than he meant for it to. His demeanor seemed to make Lucy even more nervous, and suddenly, she lost her resolve.
The blonde bursted into tears, letting out choked sobs and trying to hide her face in her hands.
Natsu immediately fell into a panic at the sight. The last thing he wanted was to frighten her. "Woah! Don't cry-"
"I'm sorry!"
"Hey, I told ya you didn't have to be sorry-"
"N-no, I just… I'm just so overwhelmed…"
"...Me too," Natsu gently guided her to sit at the kitchenette counter with him and awkwardly rubbed at her back, "But, uh…"
"I wish I hadn't left before talking with you… But I just wasn't sure what you'd be like, I thought maybe you would've been mad about having an accidental one night stand or something…"
"It happens, I wasn't keeping track of my drinks-"
"Ugh, if I would've just spoken to you, we could've been prepared for something like this… But I just thought I could run home and forget this even happened… That plan seriously backfired," Lucy let out a humorless laugh and instinctively ran her hands over her belly, bringing Natsu's attention to the spot.
She wasn't showing, which made sense, but he was curious. There were still tears flowing down her face, but she seemed to have steadied her breathing by now, so he figured he could ask, "How'd you find out?"
Lucy turned to him, made a face almost as if she didn't know what he was talking about, but then quickly remembered the reason she was even here, "Oh… Well I knew it was a possibility ever since that night… I took the first pregnancy test after missing my period, but it was negative. Then a couple days later I took a few more just to be certain, and well… they came out positive. I went to the doctor to get an ultrasound and get rid of any doubts, that's when it really became real."
"Damn… so you really are pregnant…"
"Y-yep."
Natsu ran his hand through his hair and huffed, but he stopped himself from showing how nervous he was in fear of frightening her again. "Okay, well… you know for sure it's mine?"
"Y-yes, that was my… that was the first and only time I ever…"
She didn't have to elaborate, Natsu remembered her saying she'd never been to a party that night, and he remembered her mentioning it was her first time, too. "Alright, gotcha. So, we're gonna be parents."
"...We are."
It seemed as though saying it out loud was enough for the situation to truly weigh down on Natsu, and this time he couldn't hide the deep groan he let out.
"I'm sorry that this has to be thrown on you like this," Lucy sniffled and wiped at her eyes, feeling extra guilty now, "It was so overwhelming for me… I've had days to deal with this news and it still doesn't feel real. I'm about 3 weeks along, so it's still super soon, but I… I know this must be so horrible for you."
Natsu had to take a minute to steady his thoughts, his breathing labored and palms getting sweaty. Eventually, he could meet Lucy's eyes again, but his whole demeanor was completely different from how it was just a few minutes ago. "I'm just glad I found out, I don't want you to be alone."
That was incredibly reassuring for Lucy, but the tension was still high, "I still don't know what I'm gonna do, though… I want to have the baby, but… I don't know, I was thinking about putting it up for adoption or something-"
"Wait, adoption? Why?"
Natsu legitimately seemed offended by the suggestion, which was a little odd to Lucy, "...I don't know about you, but I'm a 19-year-old college student… there's no way I could raise a baby like this…"
"Maybe, but don't you think it'd be easier with the two of us?"
"Yeah, but what if it isn't?"
"But what if it is?" Lucy was starting to look scared again, so Natsu really wanted to clear this up before things took a turn, "Look, I'm adopted, and I'm glad that I have my family, but it's not always a fun situation. Once you get to a certain age, you get nervous that no one will want you, and then there's also the issues with feeling unwanted by your birth parents. On top of that, there's the fear that the family you're brought into will turn out to be terrible… Maybe my kid will get adopted by a cool family like I did, and maybe they won't even remember the experience, but there's a chance that it won't work out like that."
Lucy sighed, adoption was just one of the options she came up with, it just sounded like the easiest solution, but she'd need time to think about it, and it wouldn't be right to come to that conclusion on her own, "Okay, well do you have any plans?"
"Plans..?" Natsu was honestly at a loss, he'd only just found out about this about an hour ago, "I don't know…"
"Well we have to figure something out. Ideally we could be co-parents and raise the child together, but if we're not financially or mentally sound enough by the time they're born, I think we should seriously consider letting them get adopted into a more stable home."
"Okay…" Natsu was in deep thought at the moment. She was right, it'd be ideal to be able to tough it out and raise the kid, but he'd hate to put his baby in an unstable situation when there's the option to let them be with a family that'll love and be able to take care of them instead. They'll just have to try their best for now. "I guess I'm gonna talk to my parents about it, they'll be able to help."
"Your parents? What do you think they'll say when they find out?" Lucy went back to scratching at her arms, which was starting to get a little worrying.
"My parents? They'll be annoyed, but they're not just gonna leave us in this situation when we clearly need help…"
"Really? Your parents must be very accepting, huh?"
"Yeah, my brother had a kid in college too… He was a little older, but it was still sudden, he was in the middle of his semester when it happened. They weren't hard on him about it, so…"
"But did your brother have a one night stand with a girl he hardly knows?" Lucy's scratching persisted, and Natsu didn't think twice before grabbing onto her hand to stop her.
The action made her squeak as the red colour returned to her face, immediately letting him know that was not the right move, "S-sorry, you're just scratching… You could hurt yourself."
"Uh," She gently took her hand out from his hold, "Yeah, it's a bad habit of mine…"
The awkwardness was slowly returning, but that was honestly inevitable. "Well, anyway, to answer your question; no."
"Huh?"
"About my brother."
"Uh…"
"I mean, he had a kid with his long-term girlfriend, but still. My parents are cool, they'll be chill about it."
"Oh, right... You're lucky to have parents you can confide in, mine are gonna be so, so disappointed…" As she thought about it, Lucy's heart began to break, and she bursted into tears once again, "Oh God… They'll never forgive me!"
"Hey, c'mon, don't say that…" Natsu had to be the least qualified person to console a sobbing, pregnant woman, but it was worth a shot, "I'm sure they'll be upset at first, but they can't be mad forever…"
"B-but I'll be a disgrace to my family! My dad's gonna be so upset, he'll probably cut me off!"
"...Really?" Without exactly knowing what her family life is like, Natsu couldn't be sure if she was just being hysterical or if this was something to actually be concerned about. Accidental pregnancies aren't easy, but it's not like it's rare for people their age to be having kids. "Your old man is actually that mean? You're an adult, it shouldn't be that big of a deal-"
"I know!" Lucy's face seemed to turn red out of anger this time, "I had to beg him to let me move out when I turned 18, I even had to beg him to let me get a driver's license! He keeps babying me, and when he finds out I've already gotten pregnant, he'll have a cow! And then he'll have 10 more cows when he finds out I've hardly even known my baby's father-"
"What about your mom?"
"H-huh?"
"Your mom… you said 'parents,' so…" Natsu was honestly just winging it and hoping that shifting the subject would get her to stop crying, but her expression grew indifferent.
"Oh… I actually don't know how she would feel about something like this…"
"Well whatever it is, I'm sure it won't be all that bad."
"I guess… I'll have to tell them eventually, anyway…" She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face, it looked like Natsu's tactics worked for the most part. "Do you think you could come with me… when I tell them?"
"I-" Natsu's instinct was to tell her that there was no way in hell he was meeting her parents so soon after the way she just described them, but he knew he had to be here for her now that they've gotten themselves into this situation, "Sure, I'll go with ya."
"Thank you so much, I just have to introduce you to them, they'd take it better if they have the illusion that you and I weren't practically strangers before all this…"
"Yeah, that's fair."
"What about your family? Do you want me to meet them? You make them sound nice," Lucy let out a quiet giggle, the sound easing Natsu's nerves for a moment.
"Yeah, but you don't gotta if you don't wanna. They'll wanna meet ya when I tell them everything, though."
"It's fine, we're gonna have to get used to each other if we wanna make this work."
"Yeah, and we'll have to move in together soon, too."
"Um… pardon?"
"Hm? We'll have to live together," Natsu's eyes widened when Lucy suddenly burst into laughter. She sure was a weird girl, but at least this was better than the crying, "You alright there, Looney?"
"Live together!? Just a few minutes ago I hardly knew your name, we can't just move in together!"
"...Why not?"
"Because that's weird!"
Yeah, weird things should be right up your alley… "Well there's people that move into dorms with roommates they don't know all the time, it's cool."
"B-but…" Natsu had lost count of how many times Lucy's face had gone red by now, but this time she almost seemed to look afraid. "I… don't know… this is all so fast…"
"Yeah, but I'd wanna be with my kid full time, so either we live together or they stay with me for the most part."
"What!? What kind of ultimatum- How would we even move in together?"
"Well, where do you live?"
"In an apartment not too far from here, it's on Strawberry street-"
"Oh, I've got a friend that lives in one of those apartments, they're way too small. You can just live here."
"Eh!?" Lucy looked around as if she was considering the idea, but she quickly came to her senses, "Wha- No! This place isn't big enough for all of us, don't Gray and Juvia live here too?"
"Actually just Gray, I have no idea where Juvia really lives, but she only likes coming over a lot. But I think my place is pretty cool, so…"
"Isn't there just 2 bedrooms? There's no way we could all stay here…"
"Alright, then we'll get some other place."
"You say that as if money just grows on trees. How on earth could we afford something like that?"
Natsu couldn't argue with that. As if being college students wasn't enough to empty their wallets, now they'll have a kid to account for. His face broke out into a defeated pout, which got Lucy to do that satisfying quiet giggle again.
"Hey, we don't need to live together, and we can split our time up with the baby evenly. We've got 9 months to prepare, I think we'll figure something out." For the first time, she gave him a genuinely bright smile, as if she was finally able to convince herself that things would be okay.
Natsu was glad to see that look on her face, but then his mind reeled back to that night 3 weeks ago, when she gave him that sweet smile right before she asked him to tear her up-
"Ack!" Lucy squeaked when he suddenly pushed her face to the side to get her to stop looking at him, "What the-"
"You're…" Natsu wasn't sure why he thought about something like that right now, but he just knew it had to have something to do with this chick's strange vibes, "...Weird."
"I'm weird!?"
"Yeah, just try not to give me that face again, alright?"
"Excuse me?"
"Great, what'd that idiot say this time?" Gray rolled his eyes when he heard the two start to bicker, "We should've taught him how to talk to people before bringing her over…"
Leaned up against the wall beside her boyfriend as they eavesdropped on what was going on in the kitchen, Juvia couldn't help but laugh. She'd been so nervous for Lucy, so it's nice to listen to her do something other than cry. "We should probably go in and calm them down, hm?"
"No, they need to interact as much as possible. They're gonna have to get used to each other." Gray pulled his phone out his pocket and started texting someone, piquing Juvia's interest,
"Who's that?"
"Mira."
"Oh." Juvia nodded in understanding, but then her eyes widened, "Wait, Mira knows what's happened to Lucy, she's going to be so upset with Natsu when she finds out he's the guy Lucy told us about!"
"Hm…" Gray cared for a second before the feeling went away, "Oh well. They'll need her help, she'll have some good advice for them."
"...How do you know?"
"Mira has advice for everything, somehow."
"Hm, that's true."
"Yeah, and at least all of this'll keep Natsu from whining about how bored he is," Gray snickered to himself, but quickly stopped upon seeing Juvia's look of disapproval, "...Too soon?"