For Once: a NaLu Fic
Gift
Lucy had come to dread riding on trains almost as much as Natsu.
"I. Hate. Trains." Natsu twisted around in her lap, and she could swear that his cheeks turned bright green.
"You were the one who was so excited for this job." A little smile slipped past her lips as she worked her fingers through his hair. Amusement twinkled in her eyes.
"That doesn't mean I won't complain."
Idly twirling a strand of his hair, Lucy sighed and picked up the job sheet with her free hand. "I'm actually surprised you were so insistent about going on this one. I mean," her eyes skimmed over the paper. "No monsters, no evil wizards, no bandits, no fighting. It's in a library for goodness' sake!"
"What? There's more than one kind of job." His voice was pitched higher than normal, and sounded a little strained. Whether this was due to his motion sickness, or because he was trying to hide something, Lucy couldn't tell.
"Yeah, I guess. But I never expected you to choose menial labor over beating things up." She went back to massaging Natsu's scalp, finding that he whined less when she stroked him.
He muttered something into skirt, the muffled groans sounding something like, "Don't remind me."
Lucy snickered. He's like a grumpy cat. Speaking of. . . "Hey, where's Happy?" The train car bounced harshly, and she made sure to hold down Natsu's shoulders. She didn't want him to get jostled around and become even sicker. No, thanks. It took a moment before he could settle back down in her grip.
"Hap's on a mission—hng." He gulped down some bile. "A mission with Wendy and Carla."
"Really?" Lucy started to rub circles on his temples, hoping to soothe him enough to keep him from puking this time. Last time, he blew chunks all over her new skirt. It was a really nice one, too.
"Yeah. He left me to face the evil train alone. Traitor." Natsu's tone was light though—he didn't seemed very betrayed. He smirked, despite all the circumstances.
"Well, you always have me," she whispered, her heart suddenly heavy. She thought back to this morning, when Natsu had broken into her apartment to give her a rude awakening. Still, she had agreed to the mission without hesitation, even before he had shown her the flyer. More and more, she kept finding reasons to be near him. Not she'd ever admit to that.
Her fingers stilled at his forehead, then she dared herself to slide her hand lower, and she started to stroke his cheek.
"Yeah, I do." To her surprise, Natsu intertwined his fingers with hers and her hand closer to his face.
What's with him, all of a sudden? Something in her stomach took and started fluttering inside her. Her cheeks burned, lighting up as pink as the dragon slayer's hair.
"Attention, all passengers."
The train lurched to a halt, the team's luggage bouncing around in the seat across from them.
"We have reached the Port City Hargeon. I repeat, we have landed in Hargeon."
"Sweet!" Natsu nearly leapt out the train window. Biting her lip, Lucy watched as her teammate stumbled to his feet.
"Wait, Natsu! The train hasn't fully stopped y—"
Natsu yelled out in anguish, having been slammed into the seat with their luggage. "Ow."
Poor Natsu. Lucy winced when his head made contact with the wall.
"The Fiore Express and its staff asks that all passengers remain seated until the locomotive has come to a complete stop. Thank you for riding with us."
The tightening in Lucy's chest eased in relief. Can't take you anywhere, can I? She chuckled to herself while she pried Natsu off the train seat. Gosh, why is he still so cute even when he's half conscious? "Come on, Natsu. Time to go."
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"Y'know, I almost missed this stop, once. Ended up riding that demon train twice." Natsu chuckled. He and Lucy walked side by side in the street, Lucy with her arms swinging by her sides and Natsu carrying both their bags. Lucy had said she was fine with carrying her own things, but Natsu insisted.
Was there some sort of body-swap spell again? Natsu's being so courteous today.
Lucy drifted back and let Natsu take the lead to get to the hotel.
Being this gentlemanly is more like something Loke, Gray, or even Elfman would do.
She stifled a giggle as she thought of the hulking take-over wizard yelling about being a gentleman, proclaiming its "manliness." Still more likely than seeing Natsu act like a gentleman, or so she thought.
"Hey, Natsu. Where is the hotel you booked?" When Natsu had come to her with the mission, he had already found a place to stay, though he hadn't told her what the place was. Maybe she shouldn't have let him chose where they would sleep. For all she knew, he could have rented a shack by the sea with no indoor plumbing, or worse, a room at a love hotel. Not that she would mind staying with him at a love hotel—wait, what is she thinking?
"Don't worry, Luce. We're almost there."
To her relief their hotel was neither a rundown shed nor was it a love hotel. It was actually really nice, an open lobby with a view of the port, carved furniture arranged neatly, the staff dressed in respectable, professional attire. It was almost too nice.
"Natsu, are sure we should stay here?" Lucy tugged at his wrist before he could run up to the front desk. "I don't know if we can afford two rooms here."
"Don't worry about it."
Lucy nodded, but made sure to accompany him to the desk, just in case. When the reached the desk, the clerk seemed to have conflicting feelings about Natsu's. . . attire, also glancing curiously at Lucy.
"Um, hello." Natsu straightened his stance. "I'm here to chin-eck—check in!" Lucy could tell he was trying to sound as professional as possible, but if he really wanted to appear professional, he should have worn a proper shirt.
Not that she was complaining.
"Yes, sir." The clerk chuckled at Natsu's antics and winked at Lucy. "Do you have a reservation?"
"Yeah—yes! Reservation for Natsu Dragneel." Natsu scratched the back of his head and readjusted the bags on his back. Lucy could tell he was nervous; he wasn't used to being the one to check them in. Lucy usually did that.
"Okay." The clerk gave him a standard service-smile before disappearing under the desk. She popped up a moment later holding two plastic cards. "These are your room keys." She handed one to Lucy and one to Natsu, who turned it around in his hand and squinted at it.
"This doesn't look like any key I've seen before." His voice was gruff as he eyed the card suspiciously.
"It's magic, sir."
"Oh." However, he continued to inspect the hotel key.
"If you're done looking at you're keys," the clerk's eyes danced with amusement. "Would you like our bellboy to take up your bags?"
"Oh, no. We can d—" Natsu put a hand over Lucy's mouth. Which was strange; she was sure Natsu would want to carry their own bags. A man's pride and all that.
"We would like that very much. Thank you." He took off and set the bags on the desk faster than Happy could devour a premium salmon.
"Okay. Now, while you wait, can I interest you in a couple's massage at our spa? We can charge it to the room."
"Oh we're not a coup—"
"Actually, we have something to do in town. Thanks anyway!" Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her out of the hotel so fast that she felt she was going to be motion sick.
"Wait! Slow down!"
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Natsu didn't stop running until they were a few blocks away from the library. By then, Lucy's stomach had already made three complete rotations, and the world had blurred into one big, multicolored blob in her vision.
"Natsu, put me down." Lucy groaned. Once she was back on her feet, she stumbled forward. "Please, warn me next time."
They walked the rest of the way with Natsu apologizing profusely. Lucy wondered if she had woken up in a parallel universe this morning where Natsu actually cared about her feelings. A world like that wouldn't be so bad, though. It would certainly make things easier for her.
When they arrived at the library, Natsu entered first; Lucy was too busy marveling, slack-jawed, at the humongous building before her. This is Hargeon's Library? Looks more like a palace!
"Luce? Are you coming?" Natsu's voice pulled her from her thoughts. How many books did they have? Did they books on every subject? How many authors did they have? It took a firm tug on her arm to wake her from her daydreams.
"Yeah, I'm right behind you," Lucy answered airily. She felt that at any moment, her feet would leave the marble floor and she would start floating to the highest balcony. If only she didn't have to work, she would spend hours, days in here. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, turning to follow Natsu to the library's offices.
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The duo walked out the building a few hours later, albeit with much resistance from Lucy. However, the rewards from the job were enough to appease her.
"I can't believe they would pay so well for just organizing some books" Lucy scanned the covers of the two books they had received, special editions of rare books.
"Says you. You weren't the one hauling in the crates of encyclopedias." Natsu stuck his lower lip and scrunched up his face.
"If I remember correctly, you insisted that you do it yourself," Lucy teased, smug. Now that she thought about it, why did he ask to carry everything by himself? She wouldn't have minded calling Taurus or another one of her spirits to help him.
"Yeah, don't rub it in."
Lucy giggled and continued checking the rewards bag. Her fingers skimmed over the cloth before brushing against cold metal. Closing her hand around it, she pulled the object out. "A celestial key?" Her eyes grew wide, and she stopped in her tracks, causing Natsu to bump into her back.
"Luce? Hey, is something wrong?"
"Did you know that a key was part of the payment?" Lucy turned around stared into his eyes. She searched for answers in them, her heart clenching in anticipation.
"Of course," Natsu answered easily with a shrug of his shoulders. Lucy intent aura of focus immediately relaxed, but was quickly replaced by one of confusion, her head cocked to the side and mouth slightly agape. "That's why I knew this would be great job for you. Books and keys, I'd figured you'd love it," He continued, speaking as if the fact was more obvious than saying the sky was blue or that Juvia was in love with Gray.
"I didn't know you were concerned about my 'job preference.' " Her cheeks warmed, stained a faint pink, and her fingers played with the hem of her skirt. I never thought he would do this. Slightly squinting, she beamed at him. "You know that I would enjoy whatever job we went on, because we'd be together." Butterflies stirred in her stomach when she spoke. "That's what's important."
"I know that." Lucy peeked up at Natsu from her lowered gaze; he rubbed the back of his hair and stared at his feet. "But I figured since we always do jobs that I like, bashing monsters and stuff, that maybe it would be nice if we did a job that you liked for once."
A breeze flew past, ruffling both their clothes and filling the silence that ensued. Lucy clutched the bag tightly in her hand. "Natsu. . ." She started walking towards him, the feeling in her chest getting tighter and tighter with each step. Once they were close enough that they could hear the others short gasps of breath, Lucy wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled him close. "That was so sweet of you." You're so sweet. Her words grazed the outer shell of his ear, and she felt Natsu shudder in her hold.
Stomach dropping and heart stopping, Lucy couldn't believe it when he returned her embrace, one of his arms encircling her waist, the other snaking up her body and pressing her head to him. She smiled into the crook of his neck. "Thank you, Natsu." After a few moments in silence, Lucy pulled away, eyes locked on the horizon as it faded from a burnt orange to a cool blue, flickering once to her partner to gauge his reactions. She quickly looks away once more; the slightest glance from him could shatter her into a million pieces.
"That sunset sure looks pretty." Natsu grinned at her, causing the thoughts in her head to spin.
I wonder if he thinks I'm pretty. Stupid question, Lucy.
"Yeah, it sure does. Now, how about we grab some dinner? I'm sure you're starving after lugging all those boxes."
"Sure!" Natsu grabbed her hand and started dragging her down the street. "I know this great place. . ."
There, with her fingers interwoven with Natsu's, Lucy felt as if she could spend the rest of her life like this, together with her partner.
And maybe one day, she'll get the courage to tell him her feelings.
A/N: More NaLu feels for you readers! This may or may not have a second part, but I think it stands well enough on its own. As for the prompt, I think the most sincere gifts are the kind that are intangible, almost immaterial. That being said, gift cards and video games are nice as well. (My birthday might be coming up. Shhh.)
What about you guys? What kinds of gifts do you like? Maybe you're that one guy who looks forward to getting socks every year at Christmas, I don't know. I'm not judging.
Thanks again for reading! Stay tuned!