Headcannon given by "lovelyluce" on Tumblr: "So people have been uploading videos following a Bob Ross tutorial with makeup and tell me Lucy wouldn't do that on Natsu's head." Thanks for the HC Lucy!
(If anyone has any headcannons they'd like to see written, send in an ask at caandleworks on Tumblr!)
of lipstick & forehead art
Lucy was beginning to regret her life choices.
The camera had been set up for the past twenty minutes, rolling and focused on them – but Natsu refused to sit still, tugging at her hair and stealing soft kisses from her lips. It would serve as fantastic bloopers but she really just wanted to get into the actual video.
It had taken her a while to get him to agree to this and Lucy was not going to let him distract her.
"Natsu," she hissed, pushing his wandering hand away. Her boyfriend only grinned wide. "I'm going to make your face look terrible if you don't let us get on with this video!"
That got Natsu to stop trying to distract her. He got up from the stool next to her with a pout as she shooed him out of the frame. Lucy huffed, brushing a few strands that had fallen in front of her eyes due to Natsu's grabby fingers, before shooting a bright smile at the camera.
"Hey everyone! Today's a special video because you're meeting someone who hasn't been on my channel before!" Lucy briefly glanced at the monitor to make sure the lighting was fine and it was still focused before turning her eyes back on the camera.
"Some of the Celestial Spirits who follow my other social media might know who this special guest is… Or," Lucy let out a giggle, missing the fond smile pulling at Natsu's lips at the sound, "by the title of this video."
Lucy winked at the camera and motioned for Natsu to come a little closer, behind the table so the viewers wouldn't see. "My boyfriend's agreed to help us out today! A few of you might be disappointed to know that it isn't Loke -"
"Hell yeah, it isn't!" Natsu chimed in from behind the camera.
Lucy rolled her eyes and continued on. "Like so many of you have theorised… I read the comments! You guys came up with a ship name so easily – LoLu." Lucy scrunched up her nose, playfully shivering in mock disgust before laughing.
"Oi! It should be…" Lucy watched as Natsu furrowed his brows deep in thought before grinning. "NaLu!"
"Oh god." Lucy held her head in her hands, peeking out through the cracks between her slim fingers. "Not you too! They're never going to let go of this now, Natsu."
Natsu only shrugged. "Works for me. NaLu's…uh, canon?" Lucy felt her face heat up in mortification – he'd been reading her comments. That's the only way he'd know that phrase. Oh, kill her now.
"C'mon," Lucy beckoned him, "this intro is taking forever. Come introduce yourself." Best move on before he decided to spill the rest of the knowledge he'd learnt from her comments section.
Natsu snickered and moved into the frame, face so close to the camera that the monitor only showed blurry spikes of pink hair and his grinning face. "Yo!"
"Natsu!" Lucy chided although she couldn't help her smile. "You're taking up the whole frame!"
Natsu pulled back from the camera and Lucy watched the monitor as it slowly focused back in again, shaking her head. "Why did I ask you to do this with me again?"
"'Coz I'm great." Natsu sat on the stool next to her, tossing his arm over her shoulder.
Lucy send an exasperated look to the camera – see what I deal with? - and finally got to the concept of today's video.
"There's a trend going around the B-Cuber beauty community recreating a famous artist's – Reedus Jonah – painting tutorials but with makeup! I was inspired by the B-Cuber Mirajane from MakeandTakeover who tried this with her siblings! Theirs turned out amazing, go check them out!"
"Let's get on with this already!" Natsu fist-pumped the air, grinning wide, and turning to her. "I'm all fired up!"
"So impatient," Lucy grumbled but quickly gathered her tools. Natsu kept still as she applied the base, Lucy mindlessly chatting to the camera as she worked. His eyes were closed, face relaxed, and Lucy hid a small smile at how docile he was – for all his complaints, Natsu was undoubtedly enjoying this. The video of Reedus played on her phone in front of her, instructing her what to do as he used his Light Pen. She'd edit the video to split the screen and include the video so her viewers could watch it.
"Gosh, he goes so fast." Lucy joked, pausing the video so she could work in the shadow properly. Natsu snickered and mumbled "maybe you're just slow" which he received a light smack to his chest for. The painting she was trying to recreate had been picked specifically for Natsu - a red-hued landscape with a campfire surrounded by a forest. Natsu was a pyromaniac so he'd be thrilled to see the end result (if it even looked like a fire, considering how difficult this damn challenge was!) and Lucy really hoped he did because she had combed through Reedus' tutorials to find something he would appreciate the most. Lucy had told him what they were doing but hadn't allowed him to see what painting she'd chosen. Lucy wanted to keep it as a surprise so his reaction would be authentic.
Lucy kept the art to his forehead – Lucy doubted she could get Natsu to stay still long enough for her to do his whole face – and blended the shadow to try to recreate the reflection of the water in the foreground, teeth catching on her lip in concentration. When she pulled back, Lucy pouted at the sight of her attempt. "He makes it look so easy!" She replayed the section where he created the reflection, frowning at how different it looked to hers.
This was a lot harder than she thought it'd be.
Lucy swapped brushes, tapping into the more burnt umber shadow with a gentle hand, and set to fix the reflection.
Natsu continued to make little jokes here and there as Lucy grew a little more frustrated, making her smile and laugh – likely for the sole purpose of distracting her from how her work wasn't going as she had hoped.
Reedus' voice rang through her phone's speakers, relaxing and precise. Despite his clear instructions, Lucy struggled a little bit. It was still really fun to do even though it was more difficult than she hoped it would be. The artist would often say a few sentences or words in French before going back to English. A line he often said during the video was "Ce ne sont que des heureux petits accidents" and when she contemplated searching for the translation, she was surprised by Natsu once again.
"I think it translates to… It is only happy little accidents?" He shrugged one shoulder, ignoring the way her jaw went slack with surprise.
"Since when could you speak French?" Lucy gaped, staring at her boyfriend. How had she never noticed that he could understand a second language?
"I don't. But I've been around Levy enough to pick up some stuff. She likes to watch this Reedus' guys stuff while she organises her books."
Levy was a friend of hers who was dating his friend – er, well, they didn't act like that but everyone knew they were as close as brothers – so they'd often spend time with the couple. That's how the met, actually. When Levy and Gajeel started dating, the two were forced together, not wanting to third wheel. Levy had a habit of translating different languages when she heard them (a habit born from her work as a translator) and would often do it without realising. Lucy was surprised that Natsu had actually paid enough attention to pick up on a few words… but then again, it was Natsu. He always listens to his friends even when it seems like he's not.
A quality of his that she quickly fell in love with.
As they got near the end of the video, Lucy had somehow managed to recreate the artwork decently. It wasn't the best - it paled in comparison to Mirajane's - but it didn't look terrible, so she was more than happy with the result.
Natsu seemed ecstatic about it, too, once she allowed him to see the finished product. It was like he was a child, giddy over the fire, admiring the way she had used the shadows to create the scene. He gave her a chaste kiss that pleasantly surprised her, before going back to staring at the little campfire painted in the middle of his forehead. Lucy was pretty sure he was being a little dramatic but couldn't help the warm feeling in her heart as he continued to say his praises. Natsu had then decided that he wanted to "finish off the look" (yep, this man definitely watched her videos) by adding ruby red lipstick. He wouldn't let her do it so the end result was messy and smudged.
The outro was recorded quickly and Lucy went through her usual routine of mentioning the rest of her media, thanking MakeandTakeover for the inspiration once more and signing off. Lucy let out a happy sigh as she switched the camera's off, stretching her arms before sitting back down next to Natsu.
"Let's take some pictures for my - "
Lucy let out a squeak as Natsu's hands grabbed hold of her waist, pulling her up from the stool. Her ankles instinctively crossed around his middle, palms pressed against his chest. The new view gave her an excellent view of the art she'd just painted on his forehead – wow it really did turn out better than she thought – as Natsu grinned mischievously at her. He walked them over to her bed, letting them fall onto it, Lucy bouncing lightly off the mattress with a giggle. Natsu leaned over her, wedged between her thighs, and pushed some blonde strands away from her flushed cheeks.
"That was pretty fun, Luce."
Lucy opened her mouth to reply but spluttered as Natsu ducked his head, pressing his forehead against hers with a wide-spread grin, showcasing the proud ruby red lipstick he messily painted on. "Let me do it to you."
Lucy felt herself go bright red – the position they were in was certainly not helping her imagination – and could only swallow thickly. Natsu's eyes were alive with mirth and it seemed her boyfriend knew exactly what she was thinking.
He shifted, his forehead rubbing against hers and Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious. "What are you doing – Natsu! I worked hard on that!" The idiot had been transferring the makeup she'd spent hours creating onto her forehead!
Natsu pulled back slightly, admiring his handiwork with a pensive look before nodding in satisfaction. "There. Now we both have your fire, Lucy."
She highly doubted the mess now on her forehead looked anything like fire – it was likely a smudge of red, yellow and orange – but she couldn't help but smile at him, and tugged him back down to her, pressing their smudged foreheads together again.
"If everyone likes this video enough, we can do a part two where you try it on me."
"Of course people are going to like it," Natsu scoffed, "it's by you. And it has fire in it! It's gonna be the coolest video ever."
Lucy smiled softly at his declaration, heart melting into a puddle. He was always so confident, so sure, and Lucy couldn't help but join his enthusiasm, Natsu pushing away all her doubts with his absolute faith in her. Natsu was the reason she kept growing her channel, kept making videos and having fun. Without him, Lucy would've given up long ago, caught up in her worries and self-doubt.
Without Natsu, Lucy would've never of had the courage to make her dream come true.
Tears well up in her eyes as she filled with pure love for this man in her arms, a wobbly smile pulling at her lips. Natsu's just so good to her and he's not even trying – he's just being himself. "Lucy? What's wrong?"
"Nothing - I just." Lucy let out a wet laugh, shaking her head. "I just love you so much."
"You're a weirdo Lucy." Natsu grins at her, soft at the edges with eyes so full of love, and brushed the tears from her cheeks.
He presses his lips, dried slightly with the lipstick, against hers and Lucy melts against his touch, soaking up his warmth. Natsu smiles against her mouth, hands cupping her cheeks as he kisses her gently, conveying his love for her through his soft caress.
Lucy's fingers brush against the hair tickling his neck, nails lightly grazing the skin, sending pleasurable shivers through the man over her. "Lucy…" Natsu mumbles, one hand moving to grab her hip, and pressing his body further against hers.
Natsu pulls back but his expression quickly morphs into horror, eyes wide with surprise. "What?" Lucy frets as he stares intently at her mouth. Did she have something in her teeth? God, did she have bad breath? Why was he staring at her lips and not saying anything -
"You smeared my lipstick!"