Note: Written for Naluween 2018, Day 4 Prompt Cemetery
That's the Spirit, Part I
"The thing about Halloween," said Lucy, interrupting a spirited exchange between Natsu and Gray on the merits of candy versus chocolate, "is that it's about weakened doors between this life and the next, or the earthly realm and the spiritual, or the human world and the faerie."
"Uh..."
"...If you say so."
"At any rate, that's part of the... the background to Halloween. And I'd like to use it in a story." Lucy wasn't really seeing the puzzled—and rather nervous—faces in front of her. Not that the guys were worried about ghosts and weird creatures; it was Lucy who made them wary. Sometimes she took her story research too much to heart, and then got upset when others found her occasional pronouncements less than enthralling.
"I'm just going to get Levy, okay Lucy?" Gray hurried off to snag the one person he knew would be able and willing to follow his friend's train of thought—and probably enjoy the discussion.
Natsu was relieved that Gray was calling in a specialist, but he wished he'd thought of it first. Rapidly reviewing Lucy's words, he sorted out the gist of it and decided to show initiative.
"A new story sounds great, Lucy! I even have an idea for more research." Erza had told him that since he obviously liked Lucy—which he did, although Erza had put an odd emphasis on the word 'like'—he should try showing more enthusiasm for her interests, and not just tune out everything unrelated to food and fighting. Not that he did.
Lucy had been staring after Gray, but his offer of an idea got her full attention. The evident surprise on her face told him that she shared Erza's belief that he didn't pay much attention to her ramblings—er, personal interests. That wasn't fair, but he pressed on anyway.
"Okay, so Halloween is a night for spooky stuff, right? And the idea is that wherever those things are—ghosts, or whatever—they find it much easier to get to where we live on Halloween for some reason?"
Lucy had harboured the expectation that he'd suggest looking for 'ghost doors', or something like that. She was very fond of Natsu—they were best friends, right?—but even she sometimes forgot how smart he was under all that charging around. Apparently, she waited too long to comment, because Natsu rolled his eyes at her.
"Look, I understood the bit about doors, okay? After I thought about it for a moment. I mean, I am a mage and all."
"Sorry, sorry—I guess I assumed you weren't listening."
Natsu cleared his throat, avoiding the whole paying attention thing. "So, my idea. I figure that if Halloween is the right time, then we should go to the right place, and see some ghosts and ghoulies for ourselves! It would be pretty cool if we saw something creepy, right?"
"Uh... no? What's the right place, anyway?"
"A graaaveyarrrrd." Natsu's voice was suddenly deeper and either spookier (his thought), or sexier (Lucy's opinion, hastily squashed).
"...Why?"
"To help add realism to your story! Come on, it'll be like, like—"
"Field research."
Both Natsu and Lucy turned quickly toward the speaker, although their respective expressions varied considerably. Lucy looked suspicious, while Natsu looked pleased. For her part, Levy's brown eyes were twinkling, and she seemed to be suppressing a giggle. Levy had Views about how Lucy and Natsu felt about each other, and Lucy was fighting a losing battle and she knew it.
"Yeah! Field research, exactly! Thanks, Levy." Natsu grinned cheerfully, crossing his arms over his chest. Lucy sighed internally, as unwillingly charmed as ever by the sheer force of Natsu's smile. Not that he meant it just for her, of course.
"Where's Gray? Oh, talking to Gajeel." Lucy took rather snide satisfaction in the way the smaller woman's head immediately turned. Natsu, on the other hand, was mentally congratulating Gray for intercepting an obstacle that might have prevented Levy from being there to support his plan.
"So, um, yeah." Levy quickly forced her eyes back to Lucy. "I mean, book-learning isn't everything, right?"
"Yeah!" crowed Natsu, feeling more and more sold on his idea by the moment.
"Are you feeling well?" Lucy demanded of her friend. "Since when did you prefer anything to a good book?!"
"Oh... well..." Levy was blushing slightly.
"Even I know the answer to that one, Lucy," crowed Natsu. "I mean, everyone knows Levy has a thing for old rust-bucket over there!" Suddenly finding himself the target of two very unhappy glares, he rushed to his feet. "Right, okay, so I'll make arrangements for Halloween, Lucy—you can count on me. To, um, help you with your research. For your story. I'm sure there's a good, you know, cemetery around."
"Dig yourself a grave while you're at it," muttered Lucy, still deeply irritated at Natsu for thinking she could possibly not know what was distracting Levy these days.
"I'll make you a shovel," commented Levy, red to her ears.
Natsu made a quick exit, grabbing Gray on his way out, and trying to shove Gajeel in Levy's direction as a distraction. Gray protested Natsu's grip, but went with the flow. Even as the doors closed behind him, Natsu heard Gajeel call:
"Oi, Lava Brain! Leave me outta your romantic issues next time! And that goes for you, too, Ice Cube—leave me outta his problems, got it?!"
Natsu started to turn back, but Gray already had a grip on him, although he didn't look too pleased at Gajeel's comment either. Eventually, they were trudging in silence along the canal, in no particular direction except that this one happened to lead to Lucy's place.
"I think you should just ask her out," Gray said at last, his eyes firmly on the flagstones under their feet.
"What are you talking about? To the cemetery? Once I find one, that is."
Gray stopped abruptly, expression baffled. "You're going to take Lucy to a cemetery for your first date? Seriously? I think all that fire in your head is depriving your brain of oxygen or something."
"What the hell does that mean?!" Natsu tossed a punch at Gray's shoulder, which was now bare. Gray ducked away without looking up. "And keep your shirt on, Popsicle Princess!"
To Natsu's dismay, Gray refused to respond in kind, although he did stomp back to pick up his discarded shirt. There was something weird about his expression that Natsu couldn't place.
"Lucy likes you. You know? Like-like? Girlfriend-boyfriend like?" Gray crossed his arms tightly over his chest, frowning. "And if you don't want to go out with her, that's fine, but you could at least tell her that. Maybe somebody else could ask her out instead."
"Nobody's gonna ask Lucy out but me," Natsu said flatly, his voice certain, although the confusion on his face didn't match.
"Fine. But get on with it, okay? 'Cause I'm with Gajeel on this one. Leave me out of it until you're done deciding."
Natsu watched open-mouthed as Gray tugged on his shirt, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked off. What was with him? Well, fine then! It's not like he cared about Gray's opinion anyway! And Gajeel insulted him twice a day at least, so nothing new there.
But something kept him rooted to the spot, staring out at the canal and mulling things over. He still didn't think there was a need to make so much fuss over it, but now that he turned his mind to it... He rubbed at his jaw, as various scenes played across his memory. Maybe they were right. Not that they could really understand how he felt about Lucy. But maybe Lucy wanted to know. She liked things in words, almost as much as Levy did.
Maybe... maybe he should ask Lucy out before somebody else did it accidentally and he was forced to hurt them. And what was so bad about a first date in a graveyard at Halloween, anyway? He'd be showing an interest in her new story, and it was sure to be less boring than other people's first dates (whatever they were). Yeah.
Happy flew up just in time to see his friend smack a fiery fist into a glowing palm. Natsu was grinning like a madman:
"Happy! I'm all fired up! Now we just need a good cemetery!"
[END]
A/Note: First date coming up!