The figure stood back to admire his work as he tucked the spray cans into the front of his jacket.
"Take that, you blonde bastard…"
It wasn't one of his best pieces – he'd admit that. Though he was pretty darn proud of what he'd achieved in the short period of time between students leaving the car park, and teachers making their way outside to do the same.
He would have to work on the shape of his flames. Red and yellow spray paint wouldn't cut it. He doubted anyone would really look that close though, considering they ran up the side of the newest and shiniest black Mercedes in the car park.
He held his phone out, attempting to swipe past the lock screen.
"Damnit," he grumbled, rubbing his hands on his jeans. Paint had layered itself on his fingers during his high level revenge, making sure he wouldn't be able to document his victory. This one would have to live on in memory, as he didn't feel game to share his crime with any of his friends.
"Hey idiot! What the hell you think you're doing?" shrieked a high voice behind him.
Natsu turned slowly, frozen in fear. Angry brown eyes challenged him, but it did not stop him from taking her all in. Her eyes were framed by long blonde hair that fell to her waist – which only accentuated her figure may he add – as she clutched the strap of her school in front of her. Natsu knew of the girl, but would be the first to admit he didn't know if she was the type of person who was going to make sure he lived out his life in detention or juvy.
"Oh hi Lucy, didn't see you there. I was just, um…"
Her hands slowly rested on her hips, just waiting for where this story would go.
"I was… just looking for the scoundrel who would do something like this to such an amazing, beautiful vehicle…"
Her eyebrows rose slowly, totally not buying his story.
"I mean… You come into our school, and think you can vandalise our property! I have-"
"Natsu…" Lucy spoke.
"-I mean if I knew who the vandal was, I'd give them a piece of my mind, and-"
"NATSU!" She stomped her feet in front of him, causing his improvisation to cease. Natsu gulped what he thought could be his last breath of air in this life.
"The longer you tell me your feelings about those who vandalise property, the closer the staff of this school are to walking out those front gates and coming down here."
Natsu stared at her, not knowing what to make of her speech. Did she want him to run? Or was she building up to something more dramatic and ultimately worse for him?
"I can admire," she continued "the hard work someone puts into their art. And if someone wants to take me out for dinner to talk about that, then I can't see how I could say no." A smile lit up her face.
Food? She was talking about food now? And why did she look so happy about it? So happy to be talking to him…
"If I ate some dinner with good conversation, I'd be happy to forget everything I saw today' she added with a wink.
Natsu stared, dumbfounded as the puzzle clicked together in his mind. She wanted to talk to someone about art while she ate food. But he didn't know a lot about art. His only friend that really enjoyed art was…
"Hey Lucy, I know you want to eat, talk about art and be merry. But I think Gray has a girlfriend these days. I mean, I could ask him if you wanted but-"
"WHAT?" Lucy shouted, mouth wide with surprise.
"Well Gray is really good at art so I thought he could-"
"No you idiot, I… Grrr!" she growled, spinning on the spot with her face in her hands. She took a moment to compose herself before facing Natsu, straightening her back to close the height difference between them. "I'm saying that if you take me to dinner, I won't tell anyone about you spray painting the principals car!"
"Oh…." Natsu mouthed, "You could have just said that."
"I shouldn't have had to just say it!" she retorted.
"Well don't make things so hard to understand!"
"Hard? I am not making anything hard!"
Natsu snickered at her retort.
"Not according to some of the guys I-"
The gates to the school squeeled from old age as staff began walking into the car park.
Lucy and Natsu instinctively ducked down to not be seen near the scene of the crime.
"Okay," Natsu whispered, "You want dinner, fine. No need to be difficult."
"I wasn't being-"
"Shh," Natsu interrupted. Teasing her was becoming too much fun. "My car is the red corolla in the student car park, okay? When I say run, we bolt down the hill to my car and escape for the best food you've ever eaten."
"Mmm," Lucy agreed. "Sounds like fun."
"Okay 3, 2-"
"Bet I can outrun you", she muttered quietly.
"What?" he stage whispered, confirming the smirk on her face. "Oh you're on. 5, 4, 3-"
Natsu bolted, not allowing himself to count down to one. He heard Lucy shout something about cheating, but was too caught up in the adventure of escaping the car park with his life and a forced dinner date. Feeling like he had a partner in crime, Natsu unlocked his car door and turned the key as he fell into the seat. The engine revved as Lucy caught up, jumping into his passenger seat like she would be in a world of trouble for being seen with Natsu. Slamming the gear stick into first, Natsu drove the car through the now empty student car park and headed for the main part of town where good food was awaiting them.
"Good work back there comrade" Natsu saluted with a grin, "We would have lost lunch hour for the rest of our lives if we were caught!"
"You maybe," Lucy replied, a smile wide on her lips. "Some of us have friends in higher places you know."
Natsu let her comment stir inside his head. Truth be told, he didn't really know a lot about Lucy. He saw her every day at school – being in the same year will do that – but he didn't know anything beyond that. Lucy was what he would call a floater. She was never with the same group of people. Natsu, would spend his days with the same group of guys. Gray, Loke, Elfman, and even Erza when he felt like it. Lucy however, would be in a different place every day. Some days she was in the library with Levy. Other times, she could be found with the more popular girls, Mirajane and Evergreen. Once, Natsu had seen her eating lunch with Wendy and Romeo from the year below. Heck, Natsu had even seen her talking to Gajeel in the music rooms – but no one claimed her as part of their group.
Thinking too much about the well proportioned, doe eyed blonde was starting to mess with his head. Not to mention how distracting the length of her skirt was when it was right next to the gear knob he needed to use, and the fact he could feel her eyes staring into the side of his head.
"So…" she cautiously asked, noting her last snide remark didn't get the banter she was looking for. "What's the plan for dinner?" She tried to keep the conversation light, knowing her mind was far too distracted by his arms (heck, just his biceps. She'd admit that!) as he cornered the car seamlessly through town.
Natsu grinned. Food was something he had no issues thinking about.
"I was thinking some italiano for the lady" he replied in a thick, Italian accent.
Lucy couldn't hide her smile. Natsu Dragneel was shaping up to be much more than her expectations. All she had ever heard about him was how he was immature, inappropriate, and not fit to be in the school. All she had ever seen though, was a dork that liked to think he was some sort of "bad boy". Even at lunch when she was walking with her friend Levy, Natsu could be seen dancing (badly) on some chairs, swinging his shirt over his head from a one-point victory in handball. Or the time Wendy told her how Natsu had taken the fall for Romeo, after graffiti was found in the first year area stating "St Sabertooth smell like butts". When Romeo tried to thank Natsu a week after his suspension, Natsu only laughed and said he liked any insult with "butts" in it. Hardly the attitude of a hardened criminal, thought Lucy.
She snapped back into reality when she noticed the car was slowing down. In front of her was the most expensive restaurant in town – "Lamia Scale Italian Cuisine". Everyone knew there was a three-month waitlist just to get through the front door of the place. Lucy's mind ogled over the possibility of Natsu's family owning a place like this! That would explain how he would be able to waltz in as he pleased. The sound of the handbrake being locked on confirmed it. They were parked outside the front door of Lamia Scale. Lucy didn't have time to panic about how she didn't have a change of clothes, as Natsu was already getting out of the car.
"You coming slowpoke?" He teased with a fanged smile, standing outside the front door with his hands in both pockets, looking every bit the bad influence her father would try to keep her away from.
Lucy slid out of the front seat, taking delight in the way Natsu shyly averted his eyes when her skirt climbed a little too high. She wasn't one to parade her assets, but she had been eyeing off Natsu for so long across the classroom and schoolyard now that she wasn't going to let this chance (although forced on his part) slip by.
"I don't know what to say, Natsu" she sighed in bliss. "I've never been to Lamia Scale before!"
"Huh?" he asked with his eyes furrowed in confusion. "Neither have I."
Lucy choked slightly, staring back between him and the front doors of the restaurant. This was a first for him too? Then how did he have the reservation? Oh gosh. He didn't have an actual date planned today with someone else that she totally ruined? What girl would he possibly bring? Erza? No. No, he always looked so uncomfortable around her, it had-
"Oi, weirdo. You coming?" He nodded his head to the side, looking a little concerned for her current mental state.
She wanted to apologise to him, for ruining his afternoon plans with someone else. But that would have to wait as he was… walking away? Eh?
"Natsu!" Lucy jogged to catch up with him as he walked through the car park. "Where are you going?"
"To dinner! You know, for top of the class your memory isn't that crash hot."
"But where are we going if we aren't going-"
Lucy came to a sudden stop when Natsu's arm reached out in front of her. He opened a glass door and ushered her inside in front of him. Looking up, Lucy was greeted by a bright, neon red PIZZA HUT sign.
"Hey Natsu!" an old man behind the counter greeted, "Oh I see you brought a lady friend this time. None of the other guys joining today?"
"Nah Pops, just Lucy and me today! We'll have the usual, thanks!"
Natsu gently pushed Lucy's shoulders, directing her to the back of the store to a cosy 4 man booth. They took their seats opposite each other, and Lucy buried her face in her hands for the second time that day.
"Oh my goooossshhhhhhhh" she groaned. "Italian? This is your Italian?"
"Yep! The best pizza in all of Magnolia, I'll have you know" he grinned, knowing full well that he got her hopes up by parking in front of Lamia Scale. He considered it pay back for how downright petrified he was when she caught him in the car park, only to ask him to dinner in the most confusing way possible.
The next hour passed quickly as they ate their pizza sharing jokes, gossip and conspiracy theories within their year at school. Who knew if students had heard the stray blue cat that hung around the art rooms actually talk, but it was fun to discuss what people apparently heard him say. And Natsu's father being a dragon? Lucy learned it was a story Natsu told in primary school to make himself look cooler than Gray, only to have everyone laugh at him and never live it down. He took it in good humour though, joking he would get "Dragon's son" written on the back of his senior jersey in 12 months time.
Lucy would admit that she felt a bit sad when the sun began to set. As much as she would like to hang out with Natsu all night, she knew she had a tonne of assignments to do when she got home.
"Who you texting?" Natsu asked, not caring if he came across as nosey at all. He saw her phone and thought it was the perfect way to lead on to his next question that he had been trying to work out the guts to ask since they sat down.
"Oh it's just my dad," Lucy rolled her eyes, "wanting to know where I am at all times! He'll be here in a few minutes to pick me up".
"Aww that sucks," Natsu admitted, "I could have driven you home if you wanted."
Lucy snorted as she laughed.
"No, you would not have wanted to do that, trust me."
"No really, I don't mind drop-"
The sight of Lucy pushing her phone across the table distracted him.
"If you give me your number we can continue this conversation tonight?" Lucy's eyes didn't meet his.
Instead, she stared at the serviettes in front of her, as blush stained her cheeks.
Natsu greedily picked up the phone and put in his contact details. The girl had 10x the guts he did, and that was super attractive in his books.
Before Natsu could hand her his phone, the colour out of Lucy's face drained as she looked out the window.
"Crap! He's here already?! Oh my gosh! Natsu! Get down, now!" Lucy put her hand on Natsu's head, and forced him to sit on the ground under the table.
Lucy slung her school bag onto her back, and stood up. She walked over to Natsu's side and pretended to be fixing the items on the bench. Natsu, once again, was trying to not focus on the close proximity of her short skirt or her creamy legs and how they leaned over the seat right next to his head.
"I'm really sorry Natsy, my dads here and well… You probably don't want to be seen by him." She quietly spoke, waving her hand to someone on the other side of the window.
As quietly as she had first snuck up on him, she hurried away down the aisle, but stopped at the front door of the store and shouted.
"I'll text you later! Let's do this again, yeah?"
Natsu poked his head up a little at the sound of the bell ringing, signalling the stores door had been opened. Carefully, he poked his eyes above the window to catch his last glimpse of her for the night. Natsu just about dry heaved when he saw the car she was getting in to. He'd never forget the sight of her short skirt getting into the black Mercedes – stained by bright yellow and black flames.