"Ɯє мєєт тнє ρєσρℓє ωє'яє ѕυρρσѕє∂ тσ ωнєη тнє тιмє ιѕ נυѕт яιgнт." -Alyson Noel

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"Please leave a message after the beep."

"Hey Lisanna, I know we haven't said anything for over a day, you're probably pissed because I had a fight yesterday so maybe that's why you bailed again. Text or call me back. Yeah...love you."

Natsu mumbled the last two words with uncertainty, pressing the button to end his voicemail he left his girlfriend. He laid in his bed motionless, letting his arm fall onto the fluffy blankets on his mattress.

He sorely smiled, remembering every detail of last night's sweep. From all the extra hours he put into working out and studying his opponent, Natsu was already crowned the winner after a few easy rounds.

The brunette male sporadically stumbled on his feet after getting a blow right in his jawline.

Natsu smirked as he saw his opponent was off-balanced, having the upper hand. The brunette's hands were lazily protecting himself, clearly seeing a wide open gap to attack. He swiftly took the opportunity, perfect footwork smoothly flowing through with his uppercut, then another to the side of his ribs.

The young man stumbled back, tripping over his heels to fall onto the floor.

As the ten-seconds quickly passed by, the people all crammed in the small junk box arena started screaming more wildly than before.

The brunette tried to grasp the ride of the boxing post, but his body was too worn out. He slid back down, limply laying himself against it.

"-And the winner once again is no other than the Red Dragon, Natsu Dragneel~!" The announcer held his last name for a few long seconds, hearing the crowd burst with excitement and praise.

Natsu shook his hair from sticking to the front of his face and turned around to exit the boxing ring.

"You fucked that guy up! I'm proud of ya, boy," Gildarts shook his sweaty shoulder and handed him a towel. "You'll be ready for next week, no doubt."

"Thanks old fart, I appreciate you coachin' me." Natsu slickly replied, grinning as he made his way to the locker room.

Many people reached out to graze their hands on him, which he mostly ignored. The smell of cigarettes and beer overwhelmed his nostrils, the air hot and thick to breathe in.

"Ladies, back off, he's taken 'aight." Gray said behind him, waving off the fangirls that desperately asked for signatures, photos, and hugs.

Natsu pushed open the musty door to the greasy locker room and sat on a bench. He bit his gloves and ripped them off, following with the tape security wrapped around his fists.

"You completely wrecked that guy, Natsu." Gray laughed.

"He should've been expecting it." Natsu smirked back, wiping his upper body with the towel to soak up some of the sweat dripping down.

"Yeah, he should have."

Natsu grinned as he finally forced himself to get up to take a quick shower. The most nasty bruise was blatantly showing just on his right jawline, the purple-blue blending to make the gruesome color pop more.

He had a few scattered around his upper body, but it wasn't anything related to the serious wounds he'd left on his opponent. In fact, he more so pulverized the young man. It wouldn't be a surprise if that guy never matched up against him again.

Natsu hustled to finish his shower and gallop down the stairs. An unknown reason motivated him to be his lively self.

He wore navy jeans and a regular thin white v-neck shirt, taking the day off to mainly focus on flexibility later. He snatched his wallet and keys to stuff in his pockets along with his phone and exited his house.

Natsu paused for a second, realizing that he could've slept in for the whole day if he wanted to. Why was he even up at this hour?

After a quick moment to think, he knew where his destination was headed.

He was tempted to take a ride on his beautiful motorcycle again, but pushed the thought away to his distaste. The most important thing was his body, so taking a walk wouldn't do harm. It was more helpful for him to stretch out more than to cramp up on his bike.

The walk wasn't too bad, in fact it was better than normal. Lots of people said their congratulations to him for his easy sweep on the floor with his opponent.

Natsu arrived at the café for the second time, hoping to see the blonde maiden working a shift for an unknown reason. His gut clenched as he slid through the doors.

A smile made his way to see Lucy working at the barista area, clearly in head-charge of ordering and perfecting varieties of specialty drinks.

He'd never seen a café like this before. It was almost like a restaurant and Starbucks mashed into one. There was a choice of choosing to dine by approaching the main desk or grabbing something in a couple minutes by ordering at the barista counter. It was quite unique.

The barista area was off to the left with its own separate tables, divided away from the restaurant portion that was led towards the right.

Natsu turned on his heels to approach the small line at the barista cash register. As he patiently waited, he curiously inspected Lucy as she shifted between swiftly taking orders to perfecting a blissful morning drink to wake anyone up.

He was glad no one was behind him, letting him able to make an effort for a small conversation with the girl Gray luckily met.

"-Sorry about the wait, may I take your order-?" Lucy paused just before the end of her question to meet the same pair of eyes as yesterday.

Natsu smiled. "Yeah, I'll take a grande vanilla latte, just one pump of vanilla should be fine."

Lucy scribbled it down on the cup, her hand shaking nervously from his presence.

"It's Natsu, n-a-t-s-u. I didn't get to formally introduce myself yesterday to you." Natsu spoke up, subsiding the awkwardness of bringing up the usual question of "And your name?"

Lucy shyly smiled as she finished poking in the order on the computer screen. "Your total cost is three seventy-five."

Natsu handed her four one-dollar bills. He noticed she politely grasped them without letting her fingers touch his.

"Your change will be-"

"Keep it, I don't need it back." Natsu interrupted her, giving her a gentle smile. His palm leaned against the counter casually.

Lucy shook her head, continuing to pick out a quarter for change. "No-it's yours, we really couldn't accept it."

Natsu ran a hand through his hair, a soft feeling growing in his gut from her politeness. "Well, is it okay if I tip you instead?"

Lucy felt a heat flash rise to her face, feeling her knees weaken just by his gaze. "Um, I really couldn't, you're quite generous though." She quietly peeped. She slid the quarter across the counter with her finger to his side.

"I'd like to, I enjoyed the coffee you made yesterday and I think great talent should be praised more. So I want you to keep the quarter." Natsu pushed it back to her hand.

After hesitation, Lucy accepted his generosity for her. "Mahalo, it means a lot. I'll be right back with your drink." She softly smiled at the pinkette male, capturing his gaze for a second longer than she should've.

Natsu tapped his fingers against the counter as he watched the fluency of her movements. It seemed as if she'd been working here for ages to the common eye, already memorizing where everything was to perform her magic. The irritation of becoming impatient wasn't existent like how he felt in every other coffee shop, internally groaning to watch the workers hastily bump into each other in a chaotic manner. If anything, it was almost cringe-worthy to watch.

He couldn't comprehend why she performed it as graceful as a swan, it was more intriguing than annoying to watch. All the blonde was doing was making his requested caffeinated drink.

Lucy came back with his drink in hand holding it out for him. "Here you go."

Natsu grasped it and met her eyes again. "Thank you, have a nice day Lucy." He said, purposefully adding her name to grab her direct attention.

"No'u ka hau'oli, and you too." Lucy replied with a soft smile, her cheeks reddening.

"I'll see you later." Natsu added, pausing for a moment before turning around.

Lucy noticed a large dark spot just on the bottom of his face, her brows slightly furrowing in wonder. Not to be weird, but the mark wasn't there yesterday. The thought couldn't help but struck her mind as in how he managed to receive a bruise that gruesome.

As she wiped the counter, she clearly remembered the pinkette male sting something to Gajeel about working on his footwork.

The puzzle pieces instantly clicked in her brain. The person Gajeel called "Salamander" was Natsu.

She bit her bottom lip, not helping but to be curious in the other male, Gray's best friend. He'd texted her that late yesterday, letting her know he was watching a fight too.

A few more customers came in a couple minutes, distracting her thoughts for a moment. Afterwards, she sighed lightly and glanced around.

Her eyes laid on the only male with pink hair, sitting at a small table next to the window.

Natsu was solely focused on his phone in one hand, the other gently holding his coffee.

Lucy's fingers anxiously tapped on the counters surface, wondering if there was any point in starting conversation with him. It wouldn't hurt talking to Gray's friend, right? Most customers were going to the dining area anyways, and there was only one other person seated around the barista's tables.

"This is so boring...I still have a few hours until I get off my shift." Lucy mumbled, puckering out her lips. What the hell was she supposed to do when Levy and Juvia were on the other side working?

She didn't notice a pair of emerald-coal eyes glancing at her in interest.

Natsu took another sip at his coffee, the scrumptious flavor gliding on his tastebuds. It was no secret to him anymore that she perfected her work, only drawing him more curious. The heavenly aroma had already watered his mouth in anticipation when he received it.

He barely knew her; yet she lured him in like a spell. She hadn't tried to and he couldn't shake the fact that he wanted to know her more.

He finally admitted to himself that Gray landed spot-on this time, and he was a little envious of him. The soft smile fitted perfectly with her rosy cheeks, her voice was calm like gentle tides sweeping across silky sand.

He still couldn't get her flawless accent from his mind, it sounded so pure.

It wasn't anything like Lisanna.

Speaking of his girlfriend, Natsu ignored the sassy text she sent him only a few mere minutes ago.

-Natsu, what the heck?! It's your day off and you're not home?! I was expecting to see you today!

Okay, she didn't let him know she was swinging by. The ways she aggravates him were unhuman in every possible way. It was the flip flop between overly-clingy to leaving him in the dust for a reason he didn't know of, and conclusions always led to being his fault.

Right now, his thumb lingered over a certain follow request button, glancing back and forth between his phone and Lucy.

Natsu let his thumb lightly touch his screen this time, a small jolt of wonder wavering within.

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After work, Lucy planned to hang out with Levy afterwards. Currently, they were sitting in her family room on the couches like they've been for the past multiple hours.

"That's amazing that you and Gajeel have been dating for over two years! I'm envious you guys already live together." Lucy mentioned, lifting a grape to her mouth and chewed on it.

Levy smiled with a blush on her cheeks. "Aw Lu, that's so sweet of you!"

The tv was on some sports channel as background noise while they chatted and scrolled through their phones. Earlier, they were watching the Divergent movies together so they put aside their phones to charge.

"Omg Lu, you have to see Gajeel's post on Instagram from a few days ago. I'm not sure if you're following him or not." Levy said, getting up from her couch to sit next to Lucy.

Levy pulled up on her boyfriends' profile and clicked on the photo of her sitting on his shoulders. The picture was taken admit between her laughing while he glazed a smirk on his face.

"That's the cutest thing ever!" Lucy gushed. She pulled out her phone and clicked on the Instagram app, letting Levy maneuver to his profile on her account.

"I'll tell him to follow you back, don't worry. Hell already know because you're one of my friends." Levy said.

Lucy popped another grape in her mouth and pressed the follow button. She mindlessly scrolled through her feed, not noticing Levy eyeballing the notifications.

"You've got a shitload of notifications, Lu, probably because of that picture you uploaded last week before moving here," Levy pointed to the bottom of the tiny screen. "But I'm curious to know how your pictures have such high quality when you've only got an iPhone 4?"

Lucy smiled and let her thumb touch the notifications bar. "I use a camera I saved money for. Also, natural lighting. I upload the picture to my laptop and post it from there."

Levy nodded her head. "I love how you're so extra about it, it definitely pays off. Must be why you have so many followers."

The blonde shrugged her shoulders, biting her tongue to keep from saying anything too revealing about her past status. "Yeah, I guess so." She replied.

Levy watched her, picking up that she wasn't looking through all the follow requests sent to her. "I think some people wanna know you more, maybe cute guys!" She cooed, laughing as Lucy shook her head.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to look through them more often." Lucy sweat dropped, sheepishly smiling. The only exception was a few days ago when Gray and her exchanged Insta's to follow each other.

"Wel let's see what guys are interested in you!" Levy shouted, snagging her phone and clicking on the tab.

Lucy leaned her cheek on her hand, raising her brows curiously when Levy's mouth dropped wide open. "Um...'oe maika'i, Lev?" She chuckled.

"What does that mean?"

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek, mentally reminding her to try to not use Hawaiian language. "Sorry, I meant to ask if you were okay."

"I'm fantastic and fucking shook," Levy stated, her mouth shaped in an 'o' form. "I can't believe he requested a follow, oh my god!"

"Who?" Lucy asked, watching the bluenette silently scream words.

"He usually doesn't follow anyone unless it's his friends or boxers, like it's rare," Levy gapped, the expression on her face completely shocked. "Lucy! I told you he was keepin' his eye on you!"

"Who?!" Lucy demanded, shaking her friends shoulders sporadically. The more seconds went by, the more curious she got by Levy's now loud-as-hell screaming.

"Look!" Levy shouted, showing the small phone in Lucy's face.

Lucy barely managed to grab her phone before it hit the ground. She rolled her eyes as Levy giddily peeked over her shoulder, bringing the screen up to look at.

She dryly swallowed and blinked a few times, making sure she read the name and the number of followers the person had correctly.

"Natsu...Dragneel?"

"Yes! He's Instagram famous, well surprisingly from living in this small town!" Levy squealed, pointing to the large number.

Her eyes widened in surprise. She thought she had a lot of followers, but this guy could almost leave her in the dust. "He has over ten thousand followers? How?" Lucy sputtered. Next was the number of people he followed, and it was barely a sliver of the amount following him. Only just below thirty people? How was that even possible?

"He's had Instagram ever since it came out, and over the years his matches have become broadcasted on live tv, so he's a pretty famous boxer around here," Levy explained. "And I think you should totally accept his request, remember you told me he tipped you instead of the restaurant after you declined the first time." She winked.

Lucy slumped in her seat and shook her head. "I don't know, I mean he has a girlfriend and I respect that, so I'll stick with Gray-"

"Oh girl, you'll understand one day, and I'm pretty sure Juvia's crushing on Gray really hard." Levy said, shrugging her shoulders.

Lucy sighed, already aware of Juvia practically obsessed over him. She herself didn't have feelings for the dark-haired male, but she was waiting for their friendship to grow overtime. Nothing bugged her more than rushing into things.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? I don't want his girlfriend to get the wrong idea..." Lucy mumbled, staring at a random spot on the couch.

Levy nodded excitedly in response. "He doesn't just follow people he's met once or twice for nothing obviously. Maybe he wants to get to know you more because in the past, Gray's never been so successful with girls."

Lucy raised her phone up again to inspect his profile. He had lots of pictures posted overtime, and her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the exposing pictures of his toned chest.

Okay, she admitted that he was hot. She assumed thousands of girls drooled over him. A golden tan glazed his toned body, following with firmly defined abs. Every muscle was clearly visible, making it harder to tear her eyes away.

Lucy remembered how generous he was to her, their very first real conversation to take place. It was short and sweet, and he didn't seem like an asshole compared to most other young men. She just wondered what he noticed that made him interested in her of all people.

"Okay, E Hana wau." Lucy looked to see a questionable look on Levy's face, which she replied to. "I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" Levy cheered as Lucy pressed the accept button, gently smiling when she didn't hesitate to follow him back.

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Natsu bitterly sat on his bed, crossing his arms. A pissed expression was written all over his tended up face.

"You know what, Natsu?! You're being ridiculous! You're the one wasting your time boxing!" His girlfriend sassed. She laid on the other side of his bed while she had her phone in her hand.

The pinkette boxer threw his hands up in the air. "How am I being ridiculous? You couldn't manage to respond to my text until after a day, and now you just show up when it's night?!"

"I was busy."

"What was so much more important than texting me back? It takes one second to let me know what you're doing!"

"It's none of your business."

Natsu gapped at Lisanna, absolutely enraged and stunned by her selfishness. He bitterly shook his head, his lips forming a thin line.

A long moment of heavy silence took over the room, neither person bothering to mutter an apology, even if only one of them was truly at fault.

"Babe, who is this?" Lisanna's voice hissed, a nasty snarl on her face as if she's seen something disgusting. She shoved her phone at his face as if she was making her point.

Natsu rubbed his eyes and blinked to see the profile, recognizing the private account. "Oh her? She's just the girl Gray met last week."

The whitenette rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Just some girl you don't know? Whatever, she's not even pretty."

"Lis, you can barely see her profile picture." Natsu stated. He wondered how Lisanna managed to find the girls' profile. It seemed sort of creepy to be honest.

Lisanna faced away from him and settled on the side of the bed, putting her phone on the charger to go to sleep.

Natsu sat there hotheaded, barely managing to hold back his tongue from spitting another string of words to then backfire on him. He snatched his phone and went on Instagram.

His breath hitched in his throat to see two specific notifications that made a small smile form on his face. Deciding to look later, he closed it out and set his alarm for tomorrow morning.

Natsu failed to notice the reason why he was smiling as he went to sleep, not because of seeing Lisanna, but the small ounce of excitement to see the blonde accepted his request.

Not to mention following him back.

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Fight for Glory
❀ by queen_random1 ❀
comments & votes are
always more than welcome.
❤️Thank you for reading❤️