Hello there! I hope you enjoy this one-shot I wrote for you guys! Forgive any grammar mistake, typos or OOCness! Since now, thank you for reading this, and I can't wait to read your lovely reviews! They are my motivation!
Fairy Host
In Fairy Tail Hotel it's impossible to have a bad experience. Lucy Heartfilia can assure that, since she's been staying there all summers with her family since ages ago. But who's this new employee that'll make her experience much more enjoyable? The new lifeguard of the Hotel she's been going all her life is going to give her some special room service. [Host/Hotel Employee AU]
It was typical for the Heartfilia family to go to Magnolia on holidays, a hot city with one of the most beautiful beaches from the world, and to stay in the five stars level Fairy Tail Hotel.
Lucy never complained about it, even if they went to the same place as long as she remembered. Maybe even before that -who knew, it seemed her father Jude and her mother Layla loved it for whatever reason. And Lucy, with her twenty years of experience there, knew she loved it too just as much. Fairy Tail was a magical place.
"I'm glad we can come here all together," Jude sighed contently, a smile playing in his thin lips. Sitting beside her in the back seat as the chauffeur drove, Lucy could spot the bags under his tired eyes; the reason of them being excessive work. Lucy was glad the period of going to Magnolia arrived -she didn't want her father to get sick.
At her left, Layla let out a soft laugh, the corners of her big eyes twinkling. Lucy admired the beauty of her mother, because even if some people told them they looked like twins, Lucy knew her mom was just much more pretty and graceful than her. "It's a bless, really. I can't wait to get to Fairy Tail again."
Lucy agreed, excitement rushing over her as she saw the little coffee shop called 'Love and Lucky' that meant they were really close.
"Yeah, it's a shame we can stay only two weeks. I'll be so busy with exams when we return," Lucy said, sighing. Usually, they stayed one month or, if they were lucky, all summer there. It wasn't like they couldn't afford it anymore, it just was that Lucy was going to enter exam season in her university very soon. Because even if her parents offered her to stay home and return sometime again, she couldn't turn down. She loved Magnolia city and Fairy Tail.
"Don't you worry," Her father said. "We're going to make it the best two weeks of the year,"
Lucy smiled brightly at him before the car stopped and the driver said, "Sir, we arrived."
The family shared a bigger, toothed smile before they all got out of the limo. Lucy inhaled deeply, the scent of the salty sea and fresh breeze filling her nose. It was so familiar it felt like home, too.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail Hotel, may I help you?" a deep voice said. Coming back to reality, Lucy saw the black haired young man she knew was Gray Fullbuster.
She smiled to him and run to hug him. "Gray!"
"Woah," she heard him say, almost falling back before he regained the composture. He hugged her back,"Lucy! Hey," he said.
Gray started working in Fairy Tail four years ago, exactly when he was eighteen years old. In all those years, he and Lucy had become really good friends. They texted often to see how they were doing, but since she lived in Acalypha and he in Magnolia, it was almost impossible to see each other.
"How you doing?" he asked after breaking the hug. He was smiling at her, and that was saying much, considering Gray was a pretty cold person.
"I'm great," Lucy said. "Busy with exams, but I can survive it. What about you? And the others?" she asked curiously. One of the best thing of Fairy Tail was that most of its employees were actually very young and nice, and she had no problem in befriending all of them really quickly.
The owner of it, Makarov Dreyar, had once told her; 'They are all young ones that had endured a lot of pain. Please be nice to them.' It happened when she was six, so obviously they were all grow-up now, but she didn't forget the old man told her that he hired people to help them out. She was sure Gray hid a tragic past, but since he was so closed-up, she decided not to ask. For now.
"I'm okay. As for the others, check them out by yourself," Gray said mockingly. Lucy frowned skeptically at him, shocked by this new attitude of his. Maybe something happened in the year she was absent?
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
She saw how Gray choked with his own saliva and coughed himself out of dead, but she was too curious and dwelling on her thoughts to help him in his near-death experience. When he could breath safely again, he said;
"W-What? Stop imagining things, Lucy. And why the sudden question." he said averting her curious eyes. Lucy didn't miss the slight pink in his cheeks, but she let it go, promising herself to question him about it later.
"Nothing," Lucy said. "You look happier."
Gray's shocked expression was interrupted when Loke, the other bellboy of Fairy Tail, suddenly appeared and threw his arms around Lucy's shoulders.
"Oh my, the angel of Fairy Tail came back to make us see stars," Loke flirted, giving her a rose in the process. Lucy took it with a blush on her cheeks.
To say Loke wasn't attractive was a very big lie. His brownish hair spiked out in all directions, and his delicate traits made him one of the most desired employees, as Lucy learned over the years. His flirty ways only added to it. Lucy's cheeks heated up when his hazel eyes looked at her through his azure-tinted sunglasses.
"What are you saying, Loke," Lucy chuckled, peering over her shoulder to see what her parents were doing. Gratefully, Macao, one of the older employees, was already helping Jude with his luggage. She didn't know what would happen to Loke if her father found out how close he liked to stand next to her.
"I'm just telling you how beautiful you are," Loke said. Lucy rolled her eyes while giggling. She eyed the two men in front of her, both of them dressed elegantly in their black suits, and smiled.
"I'm glad to be back," she said.
"Hey, don't say it like you haven't been here in years. It's only been months," Gray reasoned.
Lucy laughed. "You know what I mean."
"Lucy, darling," Said blonde turned around to see the gentle smile of her mother, standing behind her. Lucy unwrapped herself from Loke's grip to listen. "Your father and I will go to our room, which, by the way, is 2-045. Yours is 5-001."
Lucy frowned. "What? In a different floor? What got dad to make such a decision?" she half-joked, half-asked seriously. Jude always made sure to have her in the room next door since she was old enough to sleep in the same suite as them.
Layla smiled with a amused spark in her eyes. "I kind of convinced him to. I think you will prefer some privacy since you're already twenty,"
Not fully understanding her mother's statement, Lucy shrugged before answering, "Uh, okay, that's pretty awesome, actually. Thank you. See you at the pool in... two hours?"
It was a ritual for both of them to go to the pool the first day. Because Fairy Tail's pool was heaven, simply put. The water always remained at the perfect temperature; the drinks were cold enough; kids played and families laughed. And it had a tendency to attract handsome young men, for some reason. Layla always went there with Lucy to talk, and sometimes insisted her to go talk with some boy -Lucy knew Layla was hoping for grandchildren soon.
"Of course," Layla said, winking at her daughter.
Lucy went to her room after greeting everyone who worked in the Hotel. Erza, the second boss; Gajeel and Jellal, the chefs; Mirajane and Cana, the bartenders; Levy, the secretary; Laki and Lisanna, the waitresses; Elfman the repair man, and many others.
She sighed in relief as she closed the door of her suite behind her. The room's walls were white, with enormous windows in the right giving her a perfect view to the beach. The king-sized bed stood in the middle, looking very comfy and inviting. Lucy found her suitcases at one corner and lazily opened the one she knew had her bikini.
Once she found it, she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. It was white, with a single pink flower in her right breast. She was very proud of her body; it was curvy and thin. It sure was worth all the hard work-outs at the gym and the diet. She smiled at her reflection, tying up her long blonde hair in a sided ponytail before putting on a simple light green summer dress. Picking up her towel, she left the room and took the elevator to go to the pool.
She stepped outside, the sunrays kissing her porcelain skin. Lucy spotted her mother already waiting for her in one of the loungers at one side of the pool. Her mother, wearing a white dress and sunglasses, sure didn't look like the 45 years old she was. Layla Heartfilia looked like a teenager right now -and Lucy was so jealous; even at her twenty she already felt how the stress worked on her body. She could only pray she inherited the eternal youth from her mother.
But far beyond her mother, Lucy could see an actual Roman god standing at one side of the pool in all his half-naked glory. The young man had the most perfect tanned shade of skin Lucy had ever seen, with hard muscles absorbing the light the sun provided -and probably all the eyes. Seriously, Lucy thought, was it possible to have such a eight-pack and those biceps? He was just standing there, with his hands on his hips, with a red swim trunk and-
Oh my God he had pink hair. Wild, spiky, pink hair that managed to look so manly on him. The sunglasses he was wearing fitted his rounded face. She couldn't make out all of his face from that distance, but she was determined to approach casually and give him a good eyeing. Why was he watching the pool? Was he the new lifeguard Erza talked about?
Picking herself up, Lucy walked to her mother. She didn't quite understand why her eyes couldn't look away from the man.
But Layla's chuckle brought her back to Earth. "Nice view?"
Realizing she'd been staring, Lucy's cheeks immediately reddened in embarrassment. Flustered, she layed in the lounger beside her mother's and muttered, "I wasn't staring."
"You so were, Lucy. I can't blame you, though." Layla joked. "I tried to grab some seat nearer him but all were occupied." She gestured to all of the other loungers lined up at the side. Every single one of them were really occupied. By women of all ages. Though Lucy thought she saw some men too.
"Mom!" she said, suppressing a laugh. She closed her eyes as the sunlight hit her face.
"Hey," Layla said, and her tone made Lucy open her eyes again, eyeing her mother curiously. "I think you should date him."
Lucy choked and coughed her own saliva at the idea, her cheeks painting a bright red. "Mom! What are you saying! Of course not!" Well, it wasn't like Lucy didn't want to, but she didn't even know him!
"Well, you should hurry up. You're a beautiful single lady in her twenties. " Layla said, lowering her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. "And besides, I think he's coming here."
Lucy looked at his direction, and indeed, he was walking towards them. O so it seemed, until some girls stopped him in his tracks and started to chat with him. Lucy saw how he kept the talk, giving them a smirk that Lucy knew was turning those girls on.
"I don't really care, I came here to rest, not to get a boyfriend or an one night stand."
Layla laughed, knowing her daughter would never have an one night stand. She educated her to be a lady. "Love comes from the most unexpected places,"
Lucy rolled her eyes before closing them again. "Sure," she said.
And as Layla had predicted, less than five minutes later, they heard a rough yet a little childish voice say, "Hello there young ladies, how are you feeling at the private pool of Fairy Tail Hotel?"
"Oh, it feels really great, thank you" Lucy heard her mother answer politely, and she opened her eyes to see, in fact, a gentle expression on her mother's face.
The voice came from the lifeguard. Now he was practically standing in front of her, Lucy could see his face very well. He had a cute nose with a slope at the end of it, a sharp jaw and very gentle, funny dark green eyes. He had put his sunglasses over his head. He had them down when he was with the other girls.
He was smiling radiantly at them, showing off all of his teeth. He was as cute as sexy. Lucy noticed he was eyeing her, which made her blush a little. At least she now could say it was because of the sun rays hitting her.
He was waiting for her to answer. "Oh... it is great as-"
"Actually, it's our first time here and my daughter wanted to explore the place. Could you be a gentleman and show her around later, please?" Layla interrupted, showing them a small nice smile that could cheat anyone, but no Lucy. What was her up to?
The lifeguard looked strucked for a moment. "Daughter?" he asked, but in less than seconds he smiled again. "Okay, my turn here ends at seven. I have a free time before my other job starts, so I'm in."
Lucy's eyes widened in utter surprise. Did this man... agreed to show her around?
"See you around, then," he said before grinning wider if possible and run off, probably to save some life.
Lucy closed her mouth, suddenly self-concious. She probably looked like a red fish all the time and she didn't even notice. How much of a loser could she be? Why did this man had such an effect upon her? And more importantly...
"Did you just set up a date for me with an unknown guy?" Lucy asked, shocked. "Are you really my mother?"
Layla laughed at her side. "I am. And that's why I want my daughter to be happy."
"You don't know that guy. He could be a assassin or an evil ninja. Maybe he's some spy from the FBI who is investigating us,"
"Stop saying no sense. He seemed a decent boy. And Makarov doesn't hire mean people, you know it. He was an eye for good ones."
"That doesn't excuse yourself for lying to him."
"Other way, you will be fourty and still single. I want grandchildren, Jesus. And you can tell him it was a lie after. I may apologize in your wedding."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "This is unbelievable."
It didn't stop her to shot a last glance to the pink haired bodyguard.
He was looking back at her, and at making eye contact, he winked at her before continuing to play with a little girl with a braid. What kind of lifeguard was him? Lucy chuckled to herself.
She then realized she didn't even know his name. And he didn't know hers, either.
Against her standars and insistance from her mother, at seven o'clock, Lucy Heartfilia was standing in the living of the hotel waiting for a man who could easily not come or forgot all about it.
Lucy was quite sure the man won't show up, but Layla seemed very, very secure he would. She assured Lucy he would because at the pool, the young man couldn't tear his eyes off her, and while Lucy told her she should be angered someone was ogling her daughter, Layla said it wouldn't be the first nor the last man to do it. It didn't lift Lucy's spirits exactly, but she could live with it.
But it didn't explain to her when -five minutes later- her cheeks burned up at the sight of the handsome lifeguard dressed in a simple blue T-shirt and worn out jeans. He looked better now with all his clothes on than before. His hair was wet, giving him bangs that made Lucy's stomach flutter. Did he have to save someone's life today?
His dark eyes sparkled when they fixed on her. It made her conscious about her appearance -a pink summer dress, a silver necklace and white sandals; with her hair braided up. She knew she looked fine, cute if she may say, but she couldn't help but think that maybe some hair fell off the braid, or maybe her slight make-up was smeared. Why was she dwelling over such a small thing? After all, she came to tell him she had came to the hotel more times than she could count, so she knew it maybe better than him. She wasn't up for a date, no matter what her mother wanted to make her think.
"Hey, it's the blonde girl from today," the man said, suddenly standing in front of her. "So you are actually up for a tour. I thought you wouldn't come." he gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his neck. The other hand laid inside his jeans pocket.
"Umm," Lucy hesitated, shocked. Why was he the nervous one? Still, he looked rather cute in that state. Was she really going to turn down something that didn't start yet?
He took her stammer the wrong way. "Well, it's okay if you just want to leave, after all, it was your mom who made you come, so I'll understand..." Then, he murmured, with no intention for her to hear, "Guess I'll have to cancel the reservation in the restaurant..."
"It's okay," Lucy said, smiling reassurenly. "I want to have dinner after all, but I'll feel bad if I don't tell you this," At the man's frown, she sighed, filling herself with courage to clean up the mess her mother created. "I've been coming to this hotel more years than you think, so I quite know the place. But I'd still like dinner."
She blushed furiously at realizing she told him twice how desperate she was for it.
His reaction was not how she imagined someone to have realized he had been tricked. He stared blankly at her first, and then -slowly- a grin slipped into his lips and shone for her. He didn't seem hurt or betrayed. He looked rather happy.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "Soo... What's your name?"
Lucy laughed. "I'm Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia."
"Natsu Dragneel," Natsu said. Natsu, Lucy thought, is a great name for someone like him. "So Lucy, I think we should definitely make things right for once. Would you like to go dinner with me?"
Lucy liked how her name sounded when he said it.
"I'd like to," she said, her lips turning into a smile against her will. She wasn't capable of explain why she was smiling so much around this man.
She didn't find out the reason even in the walk to the restaurant. It wasn't uncomfortable -all the opposite. Natsu was an easy-going person, funny and charismatic, so he never left space for awkward silence to take over them.
And by the time they arrived to the restaurant, Lucy knew more things about him than she knew about some of her old friends. But as he was an open book about some matter, she also knew he was locked diary.
The table they sat was near the window, giving them a beautiful sight of the world outside them, but Lucy didn't look at it as often as she would normally do. She had just found a sweet piece of cake to enjoy.
"And that's just one of all the reasons why Gray is a complete jerk and why you shouldn't hang out with him." Natsu finished his story, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"From what you told me, you two are great friends." Lucy said amused, chuckling at Natsu's indignant expression.
"I can't believe you," Natsu said. "You don't understand rivalry."
"I do!" Lucy protested. "I've written a lot of stories about it!"
She didn't realize what she said until Natsu's eyes opened with curiosity and he placed his chin over his hand, obviously implying for her to tell him about her stories. Her cheeks turned pink ashamed, mentally slapping herself -after all, her stories were her most guarded secret, along with her wish to become a recognized author.
"Uhmm, well..."
"What kinds of stories do you write about?" Natsu asked, pure and sincere desire to know. It warmed Lucy's chest - it wasn't everyday that someone who you just met was so eager to know truly about you.
His eyes -along some courage that the wine cups provided her- made her spill out what she always wanted to share with someone. "Actually, I always dreamed to become an author, so since young age I've written a lot of different stories, from fantasy to fanfiction to letters and everything you can think of."
"Fanfiction?"
"You don't want to know."
Natsu chuckled. "Okay, okay." His calloused hands tapped the wooden superficie of the table rhythmically. Lucy's eyes couldn't tear off -his hands were dreamy. "And why aren't you a writer?"
"Huh?" Lucy asked, snapping back to reality.
"I said, why aren't you a writer?" Natsu repeated.
"Oh... well..." Lucy bit her lower lip. "I-"
The waitress came and, with a gentle smile, placed their foods in front of them. While Lucy had only asked for spaghetti, Natsu, in the other asked, ordered the whole menu. And as much as Lucy would like it to be only a exaggeration, it wasn't. Lying in front of him were two pizzas, more spaghetti, three burgers, meat, rice and who knew what else. It was a good thing the place had a big variety of foods.
"It's impossible for only one person to eat that much," Lucy said in amazement, watching Natsu grin wildly at all the plates.
He looked up to her at her words, his grin turning into a challenging, sexy smirk that made Lucy's knees melt. She thanked she was sitting at the moment.
"Do you want to bet?" he asked.
And she just knew she should haver refused in that precise moment, but her pride wouldn't let her turn it down. "Okay," she said. "After all, you can't eat it all."
"We'll see." Natsu said. "If I can eat all this, you'll... have to go out with me tomorrow again."
Lucy's eyes widened at the same time her cheeks heated up. Was she hearing right? Did he really want to go out with her tomorrow? She thought that he wouldn't want to see her ever again -even she didn't know why she thought that, considering there wasn't a valid reason, but oh well, girls worry about non existent things- but it seemed that he was enjoying this as much as her.
She decided to play along. She smiled smugly at him, looking back at his dark eyes through her eyelashes. "And what if I win?"
"I'll do whatever you want me to do," he said, his voice low, his tone making her understand the secret implying of his statement.
It didn't matter the outcome of the bet, both of them ended up as winners.
"Okay then," Lucy hummed happily. "Let's start."
And he was not kidding when he said he could eat that much, Lucy learned one hour later. He ate as life depended on it, which was actually true, but he didn't look like he was about to starve. Lucy wondered where did he keep all the calories -she knew how defined his muscles were-, maybe he did lots of gym? She wanted to find out.
She realized, later that night, that she wanted to know all about him.
"And then, my cat passed under that stair and the bucket fell over him, so now he is blue!" Natsu said at the dessert. Yes, he wanted dessert too.
Lucy laughed, wiping the tears off her eyes. "You have a blue cat?"
Natsu nodded proudly, a satisfied smirk on his face. "His name is Happy!"
"No kidding!" Lucy said, another round of uncontrollable laughter erupting from her chest.
"Hey, I was seven when I named him!" he said, laughing along. Her smile was angelical to him, it was impossible not to smile when she did. "What about you, do you have pets?"
Lucy nodded, a proud smile on her lips. "Plue is my new puppy."
"Really? Show me!" Natsu said.
Lucy took out her phone from her bag and looked through her gallery in search of a photo of her new dog. She had little problems, considering the amount of alcohol running in her veins and how little she could hand before feeling very dizzy.
"Here it is!" she exclaimed, holding her phone in front of Natsu's face so he could see how cute Plue was. His reaction wasn't what she expected.
"What the heck is that," Natsu said before laughing shamelessly in front of her till his stomach hurt.
"It's Plue," Lucy said, puffing her cheeks out in indignation.
"That's not a dog, that's a snowman." Natsu said, smiling amused at her expression.
"Oh shut up,"
Natsu chuckled, shaking his head at her. His expression froze when he saw the time in her phone's screen. "Shit," he said, gesturing to the waitress to come over.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, frowning.
"I have to go back to work," Natsu simply said, handing the woman the money before Lucy could even pull out her wallet. Natsu, however, noticed her actions. "Oh, don't worry, I invited you, so I pay." he flashed her a smirk.
Lucy smiled gratefully. "Thank you." she said.
"Though," Natsu said, "We'll have to hurry up back or Erza is going to kill me."
"Okay," Lucy said, and they both started to walk back to the hotel. The starry night provided them a lovely sight, but it seemed Natsu really was scared of Erza to stop and contemplate it. Lucy understood, though, since she's been witness of Erza's anger before.
"What kind of work do you do now?" Lucy asked curiously once they stood in front of Fairy Tail's main doors.
"Oh, I help the room service guys, though it's temporal," Natsu said. "You won't believe how much people need things at night."
Lucy chuckled. "So you're lifeguard at day and room service guy at night,"
"Hey, don't laugh!" he said, but himself was laughing too.
"Is that some kind of double life?" she asked jokingly.
"I may tell you about it tomorrow," he said, and at her confused frown, he explained. "I won the bet, remember? You'll going to stick around me tomorrow too."
Something about the way he said it, or how handsome his face looked under the stars, Lucy wasn't sure, but it was enough for her to stand up in her tip toes and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips. He tasted of salt and smoke.
When she pulled back seconds later, she realized how silly she must look. Her face turned tomato red in embarrassment, and her eyes avoided looking at his. She probably looked like a teenager high school girl, but she couldn't help it. Why did she have to kiss him?
"Uhh... sorry," she mumbled, her gaze fixed on her toes.
The chuckle that interrupted the silence made her look up, embarrassing her even more. Was he making fun of her?
"Don't apologize," he said, caressing her cheeks with his warm palm. "After all, I wanted to do that all evening," And with that, he connected their lips once again, and she kissed him back.
And what started as a sweet, recomforting kiss soon turned into one filled with passion and lust. Lucy knew it by the way his tongue darted in her lips before entering her, and how his hands rested on her lower back. Her hands roamed his broad shoulders, a tight knot forming in her belly. Their heavy breaths mixed with one's another.
"Natsu Dragneel!" a voice yelled at their side. They broke apart to see a furious yet ashamed red-haired woman who looked everywhere but at them.
"Erza!" Natsu said, a scared tone on his voice, much different from the one he had used not minutes ago.
"Y-You have five minutes to change yourself and start working!" she said, before turning around and entering the hotel.
Lucy and Natsu looked at each other before laughing again. All the shame was gone, even if some lust still remained in their eyes.
"See you tomorrow, then," Natsu said.
"See you later," Lucy said with a mischievous smirk as an idea popped in her mind. Ah, she was such a genius sometimes. Ignoring Natsu's confused brow, she walked towards to the elevator to go to her room.
She hurried into her room, took a shower and dressed herself in another dress. She watched some TV, trying not to lose control and not sound desperate as time slowly passed.
She couldn't believe what she was about to do. After all, she only met him today, but even so, it seemed as he has been always in her life. She felt comfortable with him, and she knew she wouldn't regret any of the time they spent together today, and all of the times she hoped they would share in the future.
So, when the clock marked 11:00 p.m., two hours after they had said goodbyes, Lucy picked up the room's phone and marked the room service number.
"Goodnight, I would like some strawberry ice-cream, if I can." Lucy said. "Yes, to room 5-001. Thank you." She recalled telling Natsu her room's number. She hoped he remembered it too, and that he would catch it.
And ten minutes later, a knock sounded in her door. Lucy got up and opened it, and in fact, a Natsu in a suit was standing at the other side with a fancy salver in his right hand. So much for only a pot of ice-cream, Lucy thought with a smile.
"Couldn't be away from me?" Natsu joked, moving his eyebrows at her.
"I just wanted ice-cream, that's all," Lucy said. As if.
"You ate ice-cream at the restaurant too, weirdo." Natsu said.
"Did you just call me weirdo?" Lucy asked, gasping at him.
"Maybe," Natsu chuckled. He looked so tempting with that black suit, it was as if the shirt called her hands to unbutton it.
He gave some steps forwards into the room, closing the door behind him. Lucy was grateful her parents weren't in the same floor, for once. She liked this sort of freedom. She gave steps backwards, her eyes following Natsu's hand as it placed the salver over the table in the corner.
"But I like weirdos," he said, and kissed her fiercely.
And in that moment, Lucy somehow knew this wasn't just going to be an one-night stand. The kiss was full of promises for the future. She would kiss him again.
She sure would call the room service again.