Lucy fiddled with another quarter between her fingers before letting it drop on the counter.

"I'll see you later, Lucy," Natsu said, grinning at her once again before grabbing his coffee to go.

"A hui hou," She replied, smiling as she watched his muscular figure walk out through the door.

Getting morning shifts for the barista was a trend from her boss now, since she brought in more customers. From all the attention of wanting something to go, either Levy or someone else would help her so orders could go faster.

"Okay, what was that, what was that," Levy giggled, eyeing the blonde. Since nobody was currently ordering, she pulled out her phone to keep her busy. "I saw the whole thing, and the only thing he said to me was hi!"

Lucy hesitantly stuck the quarter away, brushing a few bangs away from her eyes. "He's been stopping by every morning."

Levy's lips pursed out, eyes darting back and forth between the blonde and her phone that was currently opened to Instagram. "Mhmm, I see that on my feed, he definitely liked a pic."

Lucy decided to leave the distractions until after her shift.

Time went by faster than she'd expected, her mood already bouncing with good vibes. Luckily, no one came to ask her for her number of some sort.

As the two exited the café, Levy swiveled her head towards Lucy. "Hey, you wanna come with me on Friday to watch a couple fights?"

Lucy smiled back. "Yeah! Does Gajeel have a fight that day?" The excitement of going to an event she'd never attended did perk her curiosity.

"Yup! Usually it's just Gray and I, but it'd be awesome if you and Juvia could come too."

"Definitely, I'll see you later!"

"See you, Lu!"

Levy and Lucy parted ways to their own desperate destination.

Lucy awkwardly cringed again walking by a group of men her age with countless beer bottles. The strong aroma of weed made her nostrils tingle immensely, following with her sneezing a few times, almost tripping in the process of walking.

Managing to climb up the musty stairway as a detour, the elevator's were broken at the moment, she finally sighed to close her door behind her.

Lucy checked her phone and inwardly cussed at herself.

Gray: Hey, I'm omw. I can pick you up wherever.

She fiddled with unlocking her phone and sent a quick message before bolting to her room to throw on different clothes.

-In the front of the apartment building's fine :)

Lucy stripped off her black jeans and white shirt, throwing on dark grey sweatpants and a random red t-shirt. She quickly fixed her messy bun, shoved her feet in an old pair of dirty white rip-off vans, grabbed her keys and phone and bolted out.

She thanked Jesus that she was running down the flights of stairs instead of up, making the trip easier for her to keep running.

Lucy patiently waited on the steps of the apartments main doors for only a few minutes. A black car nearly drifted right in front of her, the wheels screaming from skidding on the dirty pavement. It was a lowered, newer BMW, the wheels with larger flashy rims.

Gray hopped out of the drivers seat and slid over the hood of his car. "It's nice to see you again." He said, opening the car door for the passenger side. He was dressed in casual clothes just like herself; ironically wearing a thin light grey shirt and black sweats.

"You too," Lucy said, standing up to take a seat in his car. "Mahalo."

Gray nodded his head and closed it after she settled in, sliding back over his car and into the drivers seat. Lucy inspected how everything was navy and black themed, a different style than her acquainted color tastes. It matched his style.

The engine roared as he pressed the gas petal, practically making Lucy's heart slam in her chest.

"Do you drive like this all the time?" Lucy asked as they bolted off. She grabbed the oh shit! handle above her as he drifted while turning.

Gray nodded. "Yeah, I go drifting all the time with Gajeel, too bad flame brain can't handle that type of stuff." He flicked on the blinker and switched lanes, speeding past another teenager with a mom van.

"Doesn't hurt to live dangerous." Lucy laughed, earning a grin from the dark-haired male driving. For the first few minutes, she held onto dear life from his sporadic drifting and skidding. Noticing that he wasn't reckless, her tended body slowly relaxed in the reclined chair.

Soon after speeding through the dusty roads for a short time, a playful smirk emerged onto Gray's face.

"Hold on."

Lucy blinked twice. "Hold on?"

The momentum of her body spun instantly, feeling her hands reach for the handle and the side of her chair as the car spun in a full three-sixty degree circle. The car came to a screeching halt, then the engines roaring becoming silent.

Lucy opened her eyes to see Gray chuckling. "I wasn't expecting that." She said. Her body felt as if she'd just rode five roller coasters in a row.

Gray hopped out and opened her door, letting Lucy see a nice small house. It was in a nicer neighborhood, the grasses vibrantly glowing with its natural green. There was a short cement path to a few steps leading to the front door. Two chairs sat on the small front deck. Of course, the house was coated with a medium grey, the outlines highlighted with a light grey.

It was the complete opposite of her trashed style of living, and a ping of envy struck her.

"He maika'i!" Lucy laughed, brushing a bang away from her eye.

"What?"

Lucy sweatdropped. "Ku'u'ino, I meant to say it's cute."

"Ah, I thought you'd say something like that." Gray replied. He motioned for her to follow him inside, admiring how nice everything was.

The staircase to the upper floor was right in the center ahead. A bench was to the left side with multiple pairs of his shoes matched, and to the right was a small living room. He brought her towards the back of the first floor, letting her see his gray and black themed kitchen, dining table, and family room. A small hallway led to a bathroom and laundry room.

"Your house is really original with the dark tones." Lucy admired. Everything looked so nice, she was afraid to touch anything. Heck, a small chandelier was above the rectangular dining table. If something were to break, it'd be from her on accident.

"Yeah, I saved a lot of money to rend my house the way I want it," Gray replied, showing his crooked grin. "Wanna go upstairs?"

She nodded, and he further let her explore his house. "I'm afraid to even use the restroom because the toilet looks so expensive." Lucy sighed, making Gray crack up. He had a couple small guest rooms, each with a twin sized bed with grey and navy themed sheets to match the wall.

"Here's the last room." Gray said, opening a pitch-black door.

Lucy's eyes widened to how large the bedroom was. A king sized bed sat in the middle in front of a brand new large flatscreen tv, a desk with a laptop was to the right with a black couch. His bathroom door was to the far side. The walls were grey, and a fancy bright light hung from the ceilings. Under the tv were several gaming consoles and controllers, and to the left side of the room was a closet.

"I might have to move in because this is amazing," Lucy breathed, standing in awe. "U'i."

Gray shrugged his shoulders and walked to the closet door. "How about a walk-in closet?"

Lucy skittered over and was in total awe, loving every inch of his house. "I'm definitely envious of everything."

Gray walked over and reached under his bed, grabbing out a basket full of...food?

"You know I wasn't going to have a party without food." Gray plopped the basket on the bed.

Lucy scanned it and laughed, finding it more adorable. There were hot cheetos and takís, Oreos, peanut butter cups, Arizona teas, gatorades, regular lays chips and other hot junk food that her tastebuds loved.

"You know the hot limon cheetos are my favorite? How'd you know my favorite junk food were spicy?" Lucy laughed.

"It's usually the shit for Natsu when he comes over, but I just bought these earlier today for us. I was taking a wild guess," Gray replied. He flipped on the tv. "Get comfortable, I promise I won't bite."

Lucy took a seat on the side of his bed, a sneaky smile on her face as she slowly opened a bag of hot cheetos.

"You have any requests on games? I got a shitload of them." Gray asked.

Lucy purses out her lips. "Do you have NBA 2k17?"

__________ ∙∘✧❀✧∘∙__________

"You went to that stupid café again?!"

"Is it a crime to get a drink?!"

"I think it should be now because you're always getting back later!"

"You know what--I need a break, everything's always my fault. Didn't you say you were visiting that place with your friend?"

Lisanna paused for a second, a wave of fear striking her. She'd forgotten about that lie earlier, and Natsu had finally cornered her.

"W-Well, I just never had time.." She mustered under her breath, hugging herself.

Natsu scoffed. "You're always complaining about me being gone, and then you say you're too busy? You never make time for me, you always except me to do everything."

"I'm not perfect!" Lisanna shouted, slamming her foot against the ground.

"Me either, but obviously you expect me to be!" Natsu yelled back, raising his arms in the air before letting them fall to his sides.

"I'm leaving, I'll talk to you later Natsu." Lisanna said, pushing past him and slamming the front door behind her. He waited a few minutes after hearing her recklessly skid off in her silver Toyota, rolling his eyes.

He needed to cool down, and being alone wasn't helping.

What he needed was some bro time.

Gajeel was out of the question because he was taking Levy out, so he opted to barge into Gray's house. Besides, when it came to conversations about Lis, he was usually the better choice.

Natsu sped on his motorcycle, maybe pushing past the speed limit by a large number. He felt like maybe racing against the princess later in the dirt track to get his mind off other distractions.

His black car was parked on the curb in front of his house, already giving away a clear sign his best friend was home.

Natsu grabbed out his extra key for Gray's house and unlocked it. They've been friends their whole lives, so having a spare key to each other's house was completely normal for them.

He heard Gray shout a cuss word, assuming he was playing on the Xbox or some sort. The guy was usually mellow unless it either came to drifting, games, or stripping in the club he sneaks in.

Natsu quietly sneaked up the stairs, hoping to scare his friend again by barging in his room. The tv volume was loud and it was a great distraction to keep himself from being spotted. He snuck up to the closed bedroom door, his hand reaching for the knob.

He froze when he heard another voice laugh along with Gray's.

Natsu pressed his ear against the door to eavesdrop, trying to decipher who else would be here. The voice sounded very familiar, and he didn't want to wait any longer.

He casually opened the door, immediately frozen in his tracks to see two faces.

"Natsu, what the hell are you doing?! I thought you were going home to hang out with Lisanna." Gray spat, his voice clearly agitated at him.

Natsu decided to act casual about it, placing a smirk on his lips. "Sounds like you're just pissed because your butt's gettin' handed to you."

He smiled when Lucy let out a giggle along with Gray rolling his eyes. "Get the hell out."

"Nah, I actually came over to talk bout Lis, she's being bitchy again." Natsu shrugged his shoulders, trying to keep his eyes on his friend. After a moment, his gaze fell on the blonde, who somehow looked comfortable and cute at the same time.

Gray glared at him. "Can't we talk another time?"

An awkward silence waved over until a quiet voice perked up. "I don't mind, it's okay."

Gray and Natsu looked at Lucy with their brows raised, trying to figure out if it really was fine for the pinkette to intrude. She softly smiled back.

"Fine, but you owe me, flame brain," Gray muttered, tossing a chip in his mouth. "Besides, she'd kick your ass in this."

Natsu took a few steps in to see nba 2k17 paused on the tv. He covered his mouth to stiff his laughs from the score. Whoever was playing as the Golden State Warriors were kicking the Chicago Bulls ass. "Who's Chicago?"

Lucy innocently pointed at Gray, lightly laughing as he frowned.

"Lucy, promise me you won't tell anyone else about this." Gray whispered before eating another chip.

She bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders, playing a sneaky smile on her face. "A'ohe ho'ohiki."

"Man, what does that mean now?" Gray groaned.

"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting," Lucy blushed, biting her lip. "I meant to say no promises."

Natsu burst out laughing, walking over to grab the desk chair and wheel it over next to the side of the bed closest to her.

"Are those my snacks?" Natsu glanced at mainly the bags of hot cheetos and takís sitting next to Lucy, a suspicious grin on his lips.

"I bought those today for her, not you dumb ass." Gray said, raising his middle finger at the boxer with no shame.

Natsu propped his legs on the bed, finding a comfortable position. "Those are my favorite."

A moment later, a bunch of takís rained on his head and fell in his lap, the dust spreading all over his sweats. He shook his hair to get the crumbs out and looked up to see Lucy with the bag raised above him.

"Just a tip." She smiled at him, biting into one.

Natsu gazed at her for a moment, smiling back and chuckled at her humor.

Gray started the game again, both of them mashing the buttons. He was sitting forward intensely focusing on hoping to not get blown out by thirty points.

Natsu glanced back between the game and her, smirking at how relaxed she was. Watching her pulverized Gray in NBA 2k only made him more curious about her, seeing that she was a huge NBA fan.

He remembers the picture he saw of her that led to him destroying his laptop.

"Lucy, who's your favorite player?" Natsu asked, having a hint from which player she relied on most.

"Obviously Stephen Curry. He's been my man forever," She replied, sending a cheeky grin at him with a light pink colored on the apples of her cheeks. "Javale McGee's my other guy."

"I kinda liked Lebron when he was with Miami until he switched back to the Cavs." Gray commented, keeping his eyes locked on the screen.

Natsu smirked as he saw Lucy make a disapproving face. "You're no longer my friend." She stated, leaning back into the pillow behind her.

"What?! How can you not like Lebron?!" Gray stammered, spinning his head around to face Lucy while their game was still playing.

"How can you like him? You might want to keep your eyes on the game, too." She sassily replied, pressing another button. They all watched her shoot as Stephen Curry from half court, perfectly swishing the shot.

Gray shook his head while Natsu low key laughed. "I've always been a fan of Kevin Durant. I was born in Seattle, so I was pissed when the team moved to Oklahoma. I'm just glad he moved to the Warriors." Natsu said, seeing her lips form an approving grin.

"See Gray? He knows what he's talking about." Lucy laughed, pressing a few buttons to make Draymond Green block Dwayne Wade's shit.

After a few more minutes their game ended. "Fuck," Gray said, shaking his head and smiled at Lucy. "I didn't expect that."

"I was expecting higher competition." Lucy said back, her lips pursing into a confident smile.

Natsu almost choked on a few hot takís, keeping his laughs down to a minimum as much as possible.

"We can take a break anyways," Gray said, flipping the tv to an ongoing baseball game. "Natsu has to vent again about Lisanna."

Lucy nodded her head, looking back at the pinkette male sitting next to her. She was interested in this girl since she always seemed to be the topic amongst conversations. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding on your personal issues."

Natsu immediately shook his head, goofily grinning at her. "I don't mind, I'd like to know you outside of tipping in the café everyday."

"Tipping everyday? What are you not telling me here?" Gray practically growled from the back of his throat, his eyes narrowing.

Lucy smiled. "He's just someone who comes in and visits me everyday in the morning for a few minutes." She replied. Her smile faintly faded as she could feel tense vibes from Gray. After a long pause, he ruffled his hair and let it go, nodding towards Natsu.

Natsu groaned and stretched his legs out. "Well, she was being a bitch again."

"No surprise there, what'd she do this time?" Gray asked, propping his body to lay on his side.

"She got pissed again cause I came back later than usual since I stopped by to grab a coffee," Natsu said, running a hand through his hair after catching Lucy's eyes on him. "She just left and didn't tell me where she was going again, not like she ever does."

Gray shook his head, a disgusted look on his face. "She was different back then, but dude, she's been hella sketchy with you. Just break up with her."

Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't want to make her more disappointed in me."

"Does she make you happy?"

The boxer met the blonde's chocolatey-brown eyes, a little surprised. "Does she...make me happy?" He repeated.

Lucy slightly nodded, giving him a small smile. "If she doesn't make you happy everyday or if she doesn't help you become better, she shouldn't be worth wasting your time."

Natsu stared at her, almost losing his breath from her striking words. He wondered for a moment if she had a past with someone that gave her this knowledge from experience.

"You're right..but I'll try to talk to her first." Natsu replied, appreciating her advice.

"You have a better way of putting words together than I do," Gray chuckled, tapping her leg. "Please convince him she's no good, cause I think she's cheating."

"You don't know that." Natsu scoffed, rolling his eyes and chomping on another few takís to avoid their gaze. A small part of his gut did have a bad feeling about why she didn't let him know where she went, but he didn't want to believe his best friend.

"She's always lying and never hangs out with any of us, don't you think that's weird? I didn't even like her picture on Insta." Gray shrugged his shoulders, obviously pointing out his declared thoughts about Lisanna.

Natsu sighed through his nose. He was so used to Gray trash-talking about her that he didn't care. It was normal among all his friends over the years, it was blatant because Lisanna didn't like them.

Shouldn't boyfriends be sticking up for their girl if someone talks shit?

Lucy glanced at Natsu, sympathetic for him. She understood that it was hard to put up a fight for someone that didn't see eye-to-eye. "We can talk about something else if you want." She brought up, capturing his emerald eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sick of ranting about her anyways." Gray commented, continuing to eat through the family sized chips bag.

Natsu tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair. "I wrecked my laptop." He bluntly stated.

Lucy burst out laughing while Gray coughed on a mouthful of crumbed chips. "How the hell-?! Did you think it was a punching bag or something?" Gray snickered.

"I accidentally spat Gatorade all over it." Natsu chuckled, grinning like he was proud of it.

Lucy kept laughing while Gray face-palmed. "What was the reason for spitting Gatorade on your laptop?!" The dark-haired male questioned, eager to know how he managed to waste one of his favorite drinks.

Natsu's eyes widened, clearly remembering the exact reason. If Gray finds out, he'll fucking kill me. He dryly gulped, quickly throwing together an excuse. "I was watching film of the guy I'm fighting this Friday, and he just did somethin' so stupid, I couldn't help but laugh at him." A light blush dusted his cheeks, obviously nervous.

"Of course." Gray said, rolling his eyes.

Natsu almost sighed in relief to know they both bought his fib. He glanced at Lucy, who was smiling while innocently nibbling on a hot Cheeto.

'She kinda looks cute--'

"Levy said that Gajeel has a fight earlier on Friday, so maybe you and I could go watch it too?" Lucy turned towards Gray, poking his cheek with her pointer finger.

Gray's lips curled up. "Yeah, I always watch his fights. I'll take you."

That caught Natsu's attention big time.

"Well, it's normal to save the best fights for last." Natsu casually boasted.

"Nobody wants to watch a match that's three rounds long." Gray replied, shaking his head.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Well obviously you do cause you were there last week."

"I heard from Levy you're pretty good." Lucy said. She flipped to lay on her stomach, laying her head against her arms while smiling at him.

Gray scoffed, irritated that he wasn't getting the same attention from her. "I only do it because he's my best friend, and not even his girlfriend watches."

"She hates boxing for some reason," Natsu grumbled, the annoyance coming back to him. "She's clingy one moment and then disappears the next, it's like she doesn't care for me."

"Look Lucy, this girl won't even hang out with Levy." Gray said, making Lucy raise her eyebrows in shock.

"But she's so nice!" Lucy gapped, glancing back between Gray and Natsu.

"Yeah, she thinks this princess is a bad influence on me." Natsu laughed, clearly pointing a finger at Gray.

"You're just a human punching bag yourself, dumbass. I don't even know how you graduated high school." Gray shot back.

"I think you're both my friends." Lucy dramatically stated, cutting off the argument that was rising between them.

Gray raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "He's your friend? You guys never hang out."

"He does visit me everyday," She giggled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Natsu's heart skipped a beat from her declaration of them being friends. For some reason, it caused his lips to form a soft smile, knowing that maybe he'd continue to know her more.

"I mean, we could hang out." Natsu edged, earning a smile from Lucy.

"Get out."

"Okay, I'm fine now. See you later, stripper."

Natsu got up and eyed one of the takís bags sitting next to her, so he swiped it before leaving.

"Bye Natsu."

He turned to see her soft smile, pausing for a long moment to scan her from the doorway. "See ya, Lucy."

He wore a smile wider than when he socked a punch right into Gajeel's nose this morning.

__________ ∙∘✧❀✧∘∙__________

Gray had safely dropped her off in front of her apartment building, and she was now laying on her small bed late in the evening.

Lucy was awkwardly leaning over trying to load her phone on the crap wifi while charging it, growing impatient. She was trying to keep her Snapchat streaks alive, hello?

She already had a four day streak with Gray, and she laughed at his story, specifically a picture of the game with her winning.

After waiting another ten minutes to send goodnight snaps, she changed to looking at Instagram. Her thumb pressed on the tiny notifications tab and slowly scrolled through her feed. She may have procrastinated on checking through since uploading her picture she took a few weeks ago before moving.

Lucy giggled at the comment Gray left on her photo, pressing the heart button to like it.

Gray_Fullbuster: Damn 😍

She continued to look through the notifications but stopped immediately to feel her heart almost stop beating.

-Natsu_Dragneel liked your photo

A hot blush rose to her face to notice he liked it over twenty-four hours ago. That was way before him crashing into Gray's house. Maybe he did want to be friends, he was a nice guy too.

Lucy didn't know why, but a smile appeared on her face.

__________ ∙∘✧❀✧∘∙__________

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