Eyes Closed

Chapter 2: Fairy Tail Cafe

"No matter how hurt someone is, they're meant to overcome it and try to go forward."

-Mirajane Strauss

It was late night at the Fairy Tail cafe in which Natsu Dragneel worked at along with a bunch of other teens. Him and his childhood friend both worked in the kitchen of the restaurant to cook all the meals.

It was a job they both enjoyed, because it allowed a friendly competition between the two. Natsu and Gray always found a reason to get into some sort of fight. The topic of the disagreement was typically over frivolous things such as name calling or a choice of food. That's due to their opposite personalities and interests.

Cooking in the same restaurant allowed the friends to compete in fighting to see which one of them would receive the most tips based of their ability. Being under slightly strict rules of the establishment kept the two from going overboard most the time. Excluding the three fires that had occurred in the first week they'd both began working there.

The pinkette sat in one of the booths of the restaurant, indulging in a bag of hot fries. One hand scooping the spicy chips into his mouth, and his other hand leaving chili powder stains on his phone screen as he scrolled through different apps.

"What in the world are you doing, Lava Brain!" A voice belonging to a certain Gray Fullbuster called out as he plopped his body into the opposite side of the booth.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Droopy Drawers? I'm starving and we are about to close anyways." Natsu said with a scowl, looking up from his device to chew loudly just to annoy the lather.

Gray looked at his friend with tired dark eyes, and gave a sigh leaning back against the seat. He was exhausted from work to say the very least, it had been a long shift for the both of them. From noon to ten pm, as per usual shifts on summer days. Each time being flexible depending on how business was that day.

"Hot fries though? Those smell disgusting, don't eat them here." The dark haired man said with a groan, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

"Lay off, I'm starving and Gramps hasn't told us we can go home yet." Natsu said, setting down his phone and throwing a handful of the fries in his mouth.

"Speaking of which, where is the old man? It's already around quitting time already, why'd he want us to stay after for a bit?"

The group of employees were usually anxious to get out the doors for a well deserved rest at about that time at night. Natsu was especially ready to leave to get back home to his sister and best friend. He enjoyed spending time with his girls a lot and having missed some quality time with them really made his heart ache.

"I need to get back to the house soon, I just texted Lucy it wouldn't be long for us to close up. Don't want to let her down." The pinkette said, licking the red chili powder dust off his stained fingers with an obnoxious popping sound.

When it came to Natsu and Lucy, people would usually assume the two friends were together romantically by first look, and by the way they would passionately talk about each other. However, all their close friends knew they were just simply friends, and no one doubted their love for each other in that aspect.

As far as actual romance went between the two, everyone had their suspicions as to what happened between closed doors between them. Although, it was believed Natsu was too dense to ever start anything as far as a relationship, and Lucy's feelings were just too unclear for people to notice besides her practically living in his house.

The blonde and pinkette were basically something you couldn't simply label. They were more than friends, but less than lovers.

When things were getting difficult in Lucy's life, she would stay at the Dragneel house and struggle to manage the rent of her own place. Igneel and Grandine would beg the young girl to accept some extra cash to aid her bills she had to pay to keep her apartment, since they both partoke in higher paying jobs. The mother being a nurse practitioner and the father having a position in law. They even offered for her to fully move in with them many times, but she always refused.