Nobody's POV

"They say she got into huge car accident as a child and severely scarred her face causing her to be disfigured and absolutely hideous. So, to cover that up she always wears a hood and a mask to cover her face."

"Really? I heard that she was kidnapped in middle school and used to get a ransom but her father refused to pay it so the kidnapped tortured her and disfigured her face."

"I heard that she was in a bear attack."

"Kagura, that doesn't even make sense."

"Shut up Shinpachi, you damn four-eyes, you don't make sense."

Natsu Dragneel listened in annoyance to the three students in front of him as they prattled on about Lucy Heartfilia, a fellow classmate and the girl who just so happens to sit directly next to them, by the window. He was sure she could hear them, after all they weren't trying to be discreet at all, talking loud enough so the whole class could hear them.

Can't they see she's right there! He thought glumly, sympathy heavy in his heart.

Sure the girl was strange, covering her face with a hood and mask all the time, and quiet, but, she always stuck to herself and never bothered anybody. He supposed that it was because of that and the fact that nobody had ever heard the girl speak, that they out casted her and came up with crazy rumors. Still, just because she was mysterious, didn't mean people needed to talk about her, especially right in front of her.

The nerve of these people.

Clenching his fist underneath the wooden desk, a deep growl emerged from his throat, effectively catching the attention of the pink haired girl and ebony haired male, sitting in front of him. They turned to stare at him.

"Is there a problem?" Kagura asked, tucking a pink strand of hair behind her ear.

Natsu stood up and glared down at the two, his onyx eyes blazing.

"Yeah." He stated, his voice laced with fury. "How can you just sit here and talk shit about someone, especially when they're right next to you? Do you have no shame?"

Kagura stood up, her metal chair squeaking against the hard floor. She smirked.

"Shame? What's that?" She shrugged and looked away mockingly. "I have pride."

The boy with glasses harshly tugged on her coral china dress. "Kagura..." He whined, his  dark brown eyes looking up pleading at his friend. "Please don't start a fight."

Kagura looked down at her friend. "Shinpachi stay out of this." She stated, her normal high and cheery voice, low and hard.

Ignoring the pinkette, Shinpachi turned towards Natsu. "I'm sorry," He started his voice soft. "We shouldn't have been talking about you're friend. Please just let it go this once and we won't do it again."

Natsu's charcoal eyes flickered to the young male and he gritted his teeth.

"Huh? You won't do it again? So you knew it was wrong..."

Shinpachi gulped and slightly flinched.

"...and you still did it?!" The salmon haired male scoffed. "No, I won't forgive you. And no, I won't let it go. Apologize to Lucy." He said pointing.

By now, the whole class had gone silent and was watching the tense exchange, waiting to see how it played out. Lucy too, had been watching the scene, a strange and foreign look in her large hazel eyes.

"Huh? Who's Lucy?" The raven haired man asked, looking around the room.

Natsu's eyebrows scrunched together and the anger that burned inside him turned to an inferno. "Lucy," he said pointing to a girl in a black hoodie and mask. "Ya know, the girl, you and you're friends," he jabbed and finger at Kagura and a purple haired girl with glasses, "were jabbering about. How are you gonna sit here and talk shit about someone and not even know their name?"

Shinpachi looked down.

"Oi! It's not Shinpachi's fault that he doesn't know that emo girls name. I bet that over half the class doesn't know her name." The girl with purple hair piped up, standing up next to Kagura and smartly pushed up her glasses.

Natsu leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Hoh? Now you wanna speak up." He mused, a slight smile on his lips and a dangerous look in his eyes, but the smile quickly disappeared as he continued. "First," Natsu turned toward the rest of the class who's eyes had been on the sakura headed males body for a while now and addressed them.

"Unfortunately Sarutobi has a point, and to this I say: y'all need to stop being disrespectful and rude toward you're classmate and learn her damn name. All of you judged her based on appearances and rumors and didn't even think to get to know her." He turned back to the three students he was furious with. "Second, while it may be true that they don't know her name, I wasn't talking to them, I was talking to y'all." He pointed at bubblegum, purple, and black haired students, the dangerous look still in his onyx eyes.

The lilac haired girl opened her mouth to speak but before any words came out Natsu cocked an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?" This effectively shut the poor girl up and she quietly sat down, an embarrassed blush coating her pale cheeks.

"That's what I thought." He huffed crossing his arms over well built chest.

The rest of the class was deadly quiet, both from the amazement of Natsu speaking up for girl everyone thought was weird and from the guilt that had instilled in their hearts from the truth of his words to them. Before anybody could say anything, not that they had anything to say anyway, Natsu turned toward the girl in a black hoodie.

"Lucy," He spoke, his deep voice soft yet sturdy, then bent over and bowed. "I'm sorry!" He stood there bowing for a few moments before going to continue what he had to say, only to grunt when a soft hand grabbed his wrist and practically ripped his arm off as they dragged him out of the classroom and up to the roof.

Erza and Gray watched in astonishment as their friend, Natsu Dragneel, the Natsu Dragneel, captain of the basket ball team and one of the most popular guys in school, bowed his head to someone then proceeded to get yanked out of the classroom. They never expected him of all people to properly apologize to another, much less the "mysterious, maybe even dangerous, scarred Heartfilia girl."

"Wow," Erza breathed staring at Natsu. "This is....unexpected. I mean, I knew he had developed an interest in Lucy during freshman year, but I thought it was just a passing interest. I never expected it would last, much less turn into something more."

The raven haired teenager turned toward his friend, a perplexed look on his face.

"Something more...?"

The scarlet haired woman nodded. "It's obvious to me that our salmon haired friend, has an attraction to the girl."

"An attraction....as in?!"

Erza nodded once again. "He likes her."

"But how?!" Gray exclaimed throwing his hands out. "He's never talked or interacted with her."

Gently grabbing her chin with her pointer finger and thumb, a thoughtful expression made its way onto Erza's face. "Actually now that I think about it, I'm not too surprised. I mean, during freshman year and really since then, I've sometimes caught him watching her."

"Hmm." Gray smiled as a deep chuckle escaped his throat. "Well I hope it works out for Tabasco face."

The crimson haired woman gave the raven haired male a pointed look but a small smile graced her lips. "Knowing his personality and how people are naturally drawn to him, I'm sure it will."

"Well either way, I wager we'll be gaining a new friend soon."

"Indeed."

~🌸~

Lucy's mind was a blur as she sat on the roof next to Natsu, trying to catch her breath.

The whole situation was unexpected and almost frightening. She never thought that anybody would stand up for her much less even care about her. She'd been alone since the day her mother died and her father turned into a cold heartless man who only used her for money, which was almost ten years ago. She had been beaten, tortured, almost sold, and even branded, so the notion of anybody giving her any type of warmth or love seemed almost too good to be true.

She was nervous....

She was scared...

She was scarred...

She was broken....

And yet...

She was excited and even hopeful....

Lucy stuffed her face in her hands as she recalled Natsu defending her against the three of their classmates. He even apologized to her in front of everybody which gained their attention even more which also freaked the poor blondie out and led to her hastily grabbing Natsu's wrist and dragging him up to the roof. Now it's good and all that she got away from everyone's prying eyes but what should she do now?!

It had been a very long time since she'd talked to anybody, much less the most popular boy in school.

She groaned in embarrassment and risked a peek at the pinkette next to her. Unfortunately for her, Natsu had taken that moment to look at her which caused her let out a small squeak, stuff her face back into her hands, and hurriedly scoot away from him.

A awkward silence descended over the two before Natsu choose to hesitantly break it.

"Um...are you alright?"

Lucy flinched slightly and peeked over at Natsu.

"Sorry." She whispered guiltily as she bowed her head. "Everyone's eyes were on me and I freaked out and ended dragging you up here. I'm really sorry. Feel free to go back to the classroom if you want but, please tell Ms. Aries that I'll be staying up on the roof during her period and I'll check in with her at lunch."

Of course he doesn't want to be here. I dragged him out here on a whim. Plus who would want to spend time with the scarred weirdo of the class.

Natsu noted how soft and sweet Lucy's voice sounded yet also noticed a certain sadness and emptiness to it as well.

"Actually," he started and gulped when her hazel eyes darted up to meet his onyx ones, "I hoping to talk to you. But, I can leave if you want me too." He quickly finished, frantically waving his hands in the air.

Lucy's eyes widened and her breath rushed out of her.

"Really?"

Natsu's eyes softened and his signature grin graced his lips. "Mm."

"But why? I'm the class weirdo, a person who was scarred from mavis knows what, somebody who never speaks and brings misfortune to those associated with me. Why would you want to talk to me, much less defend me? Won't it just cause you a bunch of trouble and cause your popularity to go down?"

"Who gives a shit about popularity!" Natsu muttered glaring at the ground. "I defended you because I've always thought it was wrong how people talk bad about you despite knowing nothing about you. I hate that. I'm sorry it took so long for me to say something." He clenched his fists tightly. "But truth be told I was scared."

"Scared?"

Natsu nodded. "Mm. I was scared that you might be picked on because I stood up for you." A far away look came into his eyes. "You see, the last girl I stood up for, Lisanna, was bullied so bad after I said something to the girls picking on her, that it drove her to death. Although her siblings, Mira and Elfman, quickly forgave me and told me I did nothing wrong, I still can't help but blame myself."

Lucy's heart squeezed painfully in her chest and she couldn't help but scoot forward and tentatively put her hand on Natsu's shoulder, causing him to look up.

"I don't think you should blame yourself for her death. I mean you only tried to help and nobody could have predicted that it would only make things worse. Plus I'm sure that Lisanna doesn't blame you for what happened and if she were still alive she would be thanking you. After all, when you spoke up for me despite not knowing me, I was really surprised but also super happy." She gave him a big smile that could be seen beneath her mask and gazed up at him with twinkling orbs. "So, thank you! And I'm sure Lisanna feels the same way."

Natsu was in awe. The weight of his guilt from Lisanna's suicide that had been on his shoulders for so many years had suddenly been released and only by a few words from a mysterious girl he had just met. He always knew that Lucy was someone special but he never knew that her words would have such an effect on him.

"Thank you." He whispered reaching out and pulling the smaller girl into his arms. "Really, thank you."

Lucy's eyes widened. "N-Natsu?!"

Realizing what he'd done, the poor sakura haired boy pulled away, red as a cherry, a sheepish look on his face.

"Sor-!" He started to exclaim but paused once he saw her hood had fallen down, revealing her golden locks. "You have...blonde hair?" He murmured gazing at it with wide eyes. "How pretty."

Reaching up slowly, the blonde beauty's heart nearly stops when she realizes that her hair is in fact showing. Quickly, she yanked up her hood and shoved him away.

"Don't look at me!" She cried stuffing her face in her hands.

This was the worst, she never wanted anybody to see the large scar on her face, she had gotten from her father when she was twelve. It was a rather nasty scar made from a butter knife, in which her father had been drinking that morning and became quite angry at Lucy for slightly overcooking his pancakes. He called her daft, yanked her forward by her hair and before she could do anything, grabbed the butter knife and dragged it from her temple diagonally across her face down to her chin. This wasn't the first scar she had received from her father but it most certainly was the most prominent and largest.

Natsu blinked and furrowed his brow. "Huh, why?"

"Because I'm horribly scarred and ugly! I'll just end up staining your sight with my flaws. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Oi Lucy! It's alright." But Lucy wasn't listening.

Warm tears fell down her porcelain cheeks as her hands clutched the top her tightly while she profusely apologized over and over again, seeming to get more panicky and frantic was seconds passed.

Feeling that something was about to go south, Natsu quickly grabbed her wrists and gently but firmly held them away from her head.

"Lucy! Look at me."

Still crying, the girl shook her head.

"Look at me." He said more firmly. "I'm in no way disgusted with you. Nor do your scars   have any effect on your beauty. You could never stain my sight. In fact, I quite looking at you. Whether it's with you hood on or off. No matter what you look like, I won't ever judge or shun you. Anybody who does that, can go to hell!"

A small gasp escaped the blondies lips as her tears slowly began to stop, leaving her to only sniffle.

"Really?"

Natsu gave Lucy a soft smile. "Really." He hardened his gaze slightly. "Now I know that this is going to be hard, but I don't ever want you to say anything bad about your appearance again. And if anybody says anything disrespectful about how you look, be sure to tell me so I can beat their ass. Okay?"

A short silence descended over the two as Lucy let his words sink in. Before she could stop herself, Lucy found herself gently releasing Natsu's grip on her wrists and slipping down the mask she wore to cover the scars on the sides of her mouth.

The two scars she had on the sides of her mouth were jagged and extended up from the corners of her lips almost like an extending smile. These were from a time her father refused to pay a ransom when she was kidnapped. The kidnappers warned him that something would be done to mess up her pretty face but Jude had refused saying his daughter was already ugly so anything done wouldn't do a thing.

Of course this only made the kidnappers angrier and so they actually followed through with what they said. She was with them for two days before the police finally came and arrested the men and took Lucy to a hospital.

As her mask hung limply in her hands, a bright smile that hadn't graced her lips in years appeared, causing her brown eyes to sparkle in the sunlight.

"Thank you!"

Natsu's breath rushed out of his lungs. She was gorgeous. Absolutely and undeniably gorgeous.

He gave her a wide toothy grin in return.

"It's no problem! I hope we can continue being friends in the future."

Lucy froze for a second, her heart pounding hard against her chest and her smiled fading.

"Friends?"

"Mm." Natsu's grin faltered. "Unless you don't want to."

It was quiet for a moment before Lucy's smile returned, wider than before.

"Mm! I want to!"

"Well then, Lucy Heartfilia, it's nice to meet ya'! The names Natsu Dragneel."

"Nice to meet you Natsu! And thank you, from the bottoms of my heart. Thank you!"

That was the friendship of Natsu Dragneel, the most popular guy in school became best friends with Lucy Heartfilia, the scarred and mysterious girl in school.

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Welp this one shot was awful long and honestly when I first started this one shot I intended them to end up together but my writing took a turn and I felt it was better for them to end up just starting a friend ship.