All's Fair in Love and Lucy

No Favours Forgotten

Lunchtime finally arrived after a long and tiresome amount of time spent in the back of the chemistry class.
Despite being seated next to Levy, someone who was constantly focussed on her work, Lucy seemed to struggle to pay attention, distracted by her wandering thoughts.
Who was that guy who grinned at her earlier? And why did she feel like she'd met him once before?

If not for the twinkling, excited eyes of Erza sitting down in front of her at the lunch table, Lucy may have been pondering those same questions all through her break. "You must be Lucy." She said, though her expression was plain, her voice was warm.

"Y-yes!" Lucy replied, clearly remembering the fiasco during gym.

Erza leaned forward, managing a slight smile. "Welcome, Lucy."

"Thank you..."

Their short conversation was joined by the rest of the girls she had met today, along with Gray and a few other boys. Lucy couldn't help but wonder where his challenger had wandered off to.
Gray clocked Lucy, cooly smiling at her, nodding in acknowledgment.

"Hey, I thought I recognised you from earlier. Nice to meet you, Lucy." Despite his seemingly-cold exterior, he was just as friendly as the others she had met. Lucy grinned at Gray, and he set his tray down, setting off the conversation.
"So I assume you guys are also practicing pretty hard for the game of the season."

Mira beamed. "Of course! We've been pretty excited, despite being so nervous. Though I don't doubt we'll do well, especially with Erza as our team captain."

"You're kind to say so, Mirajane. However this team would have great difficulty in its successes if it weren't for your input."

Lucy frowned, turning to Levy, who had just joined the group. "Hold on," she whispered "I thought Erza and Mira were rivals?"

"Maybe when they were younger," Levy said "back then Mira was a very different person, but when her sister Lisanna went to private school, she changed drastically. They don't so much challenge each other rather than support each other in their sporting successes."

Lucy glanced to Mira and Erza, watching them as they were in friendly conversation.

Levy continued. "I don't doubt you've seen them play against one another. That's more of an exception to their competitiveness. The rest of the time, they're good friends."

To say the least, Lucy was fond of that idea.

"Hey guys! Any food to share? I'm starving!" A rough yet cheerful voice caught Lucy's attention. The pink-haired boy. He wore his uniform casually, with the sleeves roughly scrunched up to his elbows and his tie loosely fastened. The only stand-out item was, however, a patterned scarf that hung out the back of his trousers.

"A real man makes his own lunch!"

"You can have some of mine, I'm not all too hungry today." Lucy said, offering out a Tupperware box of sandwiches.

He looked at her, and somewhere in her chest she felt a fleeting feeling of... nervousness? Or... elation?

He had a smile that said a thousand words.

"Thank you merciful goddess!" He said,  suddenly bowing to her on the floor repeatedly.

"Hey! Quit embarrassing me!" She yelled, feeling herself becoming flustered.

"I just kinda feel bad though cause I've not done anything for you."

"Well, maybe I can just save the favour for a rainy day."

"What could you need on a rainy day?"

Lucy sighed, watching him shovel down the food. "It's a figure of speech."

"Hey!" He said suddenly, catching her arm. "Meet me after school by the tennis courts. I know how I can make it up to you!"

"Huh?! Wait--"

But he was gone, already passing through the lunch hall doors. And Lucy just realised that she didn't even know his name.