Pink
All characters created by Hiro Mashima.
Lucy was exhausted she had spent the entire day running around town collecting sources for an upcoming article she was writing. At least now she was on her way home, she was cutting through a park that saved her about five minutes of walking time. It was a beautiful time of day and she watched as the sun was making its slow decent and the world gradually changed into twilight. Lucy was completely zoned out giving all her focus to thoughts of work and the sunset, which made it all the more surprising when she was suddenly slammed into and forcefully fell to the ground.
"Ow!" she cried out. The left side of her body had slammed into pavement; she carefully sat up and looked over herself. The part of her leg and arm that had been exposed was now covered in little scrapes.
"Oh shit, I am so sorry," Lucy heard the man that knocked her down say.
She snapped her head up ready to scream about how much of an idiot he was. When her eyes landed on bright pink hair, her favorite color of pink to be exact. The same pink that graced her bedroom walls, her comforter, and all the picture frames in her cubicle. The concern that was written all over his face made her forget all the insults she was about to hurl at him.
"Here," he said and held his hand out to her, she placed her hand in his and she could not help but notice how large his was compared to hers and how warm it made her feel.
When she was on her feet again he released her hand. "Sorry about that Happy started running and I couldn't stop him. Then you suddenly popped out of nowhere."
Lucy saw the leash in his hand and expected to find a huge dog at the other end of it, if this guy had a hard time controlling it. As she looked down what she saw instead was a small blue cat. Her mind was suddenly overflowing with questions. How could he not control a cat? Why was this guy walking a cat to begin with? Why was it blue?
All she managed to get out was, "Seriously?"
The man tilted his head to the side, "What?"
Lucy pointed her finger down, "That is a cat."
Not seeming to understand her statement the man said, "Yep, his name is Happy," with a grin that lit up his entire face.
Lucy's heart skipped a beat, "b-but why are you walking it on a leash?"
"He likes to go outside," he said with an expression that said 'duh'.
Of course what kind of silly question was that. Lucy rubbed her temples she felt very tired again not to mention the pain her entire left side was now feeling. All she wanted to do was go home and take a bath. "Well you should be more careful, and keep better control of your cat too. Someone could get seriously injured." With that Lucy turned and continued on the walk to her apartment.
As she walked away she heard the man say, "Wow what a weirdo, don't you think so too Happy?" She couldn't help but smile as she thought, says the man who is walking and talking to his cat.
lllll
The next Friday Lucy was walking home after work when she heard a familiar voice, "Hey look Happy it's the weirdo."
She abruptly turned, "I am not a weird-oh." When she turned around he was standing much closer than she had been expecting. He was within inches of her, so close she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. He was smiling down at her with that smile that lit up his face and she felt her pulse quicken. She took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves but instead she ended up inhaling his scent which caused her breathing to become shallow. He smelled of cinnamon and what she could only describe as fire. His smile turned into a smirk and she knew he had noticed the effect he was having on her.
Her face flamed red and she took a quick step back. "Are you stalking me or something?" she said hoping to distract him.
"Kyah-kya," he laughed. "Nope this is just the time Happy likes to go for a walk."
She looked down and saw the cat was rubbing his face on her boots, "Hello Happy."
Suddenly the man stiffened, "Do you hear that?"
Lucy stopped and listened but did not hear anything besides the regular city noise. "I don't-"
"Here hold this," he cut her off as he flung Happy's leash into her hand. He then proceeded to turn around and run off toward the park entrance.
She stood there with her mouth agape. Did he seriously run off and leave a stranger with his cat? What kind of person does that? Wait, what if he is abandoning it? Lucy looked down at Happy, who was sitting directly in front of her and staring up at her. What am I supposed to do with this cat?
Lucy looked around and saw an empty bench nearby she decided she would sit and wait for a little while at least. When she sat down Happy jumped into her lap and began to purr. "Well if I do have to keep you at least you're cute," she told the cat as she pet his head. Then immediately thought oh great now I am talking to his cat.
Five minutes later she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see the pink haired man standing there with two ice cream cones in his hands. "Thanks for watching Happy, I got you strawberry flavored."
Lucy just stared at him. This guy ran off and left his cat with a stranger so that he could get ice cream. Did he not have any impulse control and how had he even heard the ice cream truck?
"Seriously?" was all she could say again.
"What?" He said as he took a seat beside her.
"Who runs off to get ice cream and leaves their pet with a stranger? I could have stolen him!" she yelled out.
"You don't have to yell I am right here. Plus you seem like a nice person, and you are still here aren't you. Now do you want your ice cream or not, cause I will eat it?"
She could not believe him. He then held the cone closer to her face and she yanked it out of his hand, "Of course I want it, I love strawberry."
They sat and ate their ice cream cones for a few minutes with the only noise being Happy's purring. Finally after finishing his cone the man reached over his hand, "My name is Natsu by the way."
She extended her hand and shook his, "Lucy." After a few moments or pleasantries she thanked him for the ice cream and bid him adieu.
lllll
That weekend and the following week Lucy had a hard time getting Natsu and Happy out of her head. Mostly because all of her pink stuff reminded her of his hair, and she often found herself daydreaming about how soft it would be to run her hands through.
On Friday after work she caught herself wondering if they would be in the park again, since it was Happy's preferred time. As she made her way through the park there was no sign of them until she reached the bench they had sat at the previous week. Here she saw Natsu laid out on the bench and Happy curled up on his chest both asleep. As she approached Happy woke up, jumped down off Natsu, and ran over to her. As the leash pulled taunt it also pulled Natsu down off the bench and he landed face first on the ground.
"What the hell," he yelled out as he got into a sitting position and quickly began looking around for the reason he had smashed his face into the ground.
Lucy was bent over in laughter; she saw his eyes land on her. His jaw clenched and his cheeks faintly blushed red. He stood, dusted himself off and sat back down on the bench.
Lucy scooped up Happy and joined Natsu, "I think that was karma for when you knocked me down."
Natsu frowned, "I think both of those were just Happy," he said as he reached over and petted the said cat that was sitting in her lap.
Lucy looked up into his face and noticed he still had some dirt on it, before she realized what she was doing she reached out and brushed her thumb across his cheek. As she did this her other fingers accidentally came into contact with his hair. Realizing what she had just done she pulled her hand back and blushed, but now she knew that his hair was very soft.
His eyebrows raised and he let out a light laugh, "I think you are the one who is stalking me."
"What, why would I possible be doing that?"
"I don't know," he said, "But you were watching me sleep."
Lucy's mouth dropped open, "I just walked up, and you were sleeping in a public park. Who falls asleep on a bench, I bet you were waiting for me." She hurriedly clamped her mouth closed she had not meant to say that last part.
Natsu's eyes widened for a second, then he smirked and leaned close to her. In a low voice he said, "Maybe I was."
Lucy took a sharp intake of breath and her heart began to pound.
Natsu leaned back and laughed, "Kyah-kya, but only because Happy seems to like you so much."
Her mouth fell open and she looked down at the cat that was happily purring in her lap, "Maybe I should have stolen him last week after all."
"Or you could just keep meeting us here," Natsu said with his signature grin.
Lucy looked over and gave him her most brilliant smile, "sounds like a plan to me." She could always use a little more pink in her life.
Lover of Fairy Tails -
I wrote this for NaLu day, 7/26/15.
It is my first one-shot, I hope it turned out okay.