Hear me

15

Natsumi laid on a bench at the train station, the morning sun barely beginning its ascent from beyond the mountains. The dragon slayer really wished Lucy hadn't been so literal when she'd said "bright and early." Laxus wasn't even here yet, and she was bored.

She regretted telling her friend about the details of the mission. As soon as the celestial mage had heard the words "retrieval mission" and "probably going to take forever," she'd gone into a tizzy, insisting that she needed to help Natsumi prepare.

Natsumi glared at the pack lying on the ground next to the bench. After Lucy had gotten through with it, it was much heavier than it usually was, weighed down with various trinkets that Lucy had deemed 'absolutely necessary.' The added weight wasn't an issue, but Natsumi wasn't sure why she needed two hairbrushes, some fancy-smelling goo that Lucy had made her promise to put in her hair after washing it.

Her friend could be overbearing sometimes, but she cared. And Nat loved her for it.

Lucy was on a mission of her own as she slammed the door to her bedroom, locking both the door and the window to prevent Happy from interrupting what she called 'girl time.' Natsumi sat on the floor by Lucy's bed, watching her friend pull out drawers and open her closet, constantly running in and out of the bathroom.

Lucy, while holding up various bottles of heavily scented liquid, suddenly came to a stop in the middle of her room.

"Hey, Nat, I know it was your idea to go on a job with Laxus, but have you thought it all the way through?" the blonde asked with a concerned look.

The smaller girl raised a pink eyebrow, "What's there to think about?"

"Oh my gosh," the blonde panicked, moving to sit down in front of Natsumi on the floor, "please tell me someone had the talk with you! Laxus is what? 22? 23? Do you know what he could be expecting from you if you're alone together in a whole different town?! Nat, I don't think this is such a good—"

"Lucy, stop!"

She'd nearly fallen asleep on her bench when the background light she'd been perceiving behind her eyelids went dark as something blocked out the sun. Cracking open an eyelid, she saw Laxus standing over her. He was dressed for travel, his coat back in pristine condition and a bag slung over his broad shoulders.

"Hey," she smiled, closing her eyes again.

"You're here early," she heard him say, still not moving from his position in front of her.

She hummed in agreement. "It's Lucy's fault. The weirdo kicked me out extra early so I wouldn't be late."

"Well you probably want to save your sleep for the ride. The train'll be here any minute."

Natsumi paled, having managed to put the thought of several hours of impending Hell out of mind.

"Do we have to go by train? Can't we just, I don't know, run or something?" she grumbled, knowing it was a lost cause.

"If you want to run, be my guest. I'll have the job finished by the time you make it all the way to Shirotsume, and I won't be splitting the reward." He wasn't looking forward to the train ride, either, but he was determined to keep his motion sickness a secret from her for as long as physically possible. She'd never let him live it down. Ever.

She was whining about him being mean when the train arrived, and he had to physically remove her from her bench so she could grab her bag and board.