-Hey this is my first attempt at a fanfic, so please help out with comments! Also, there will be plenty of lemon-y goodness to come later!
-1st revision of this chapter, thanks for the help with writing dialogue!
-Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail.
A Meal To Remember
It was a bright and beautiful morning in Magnolia. Lucy just made a cup of coffee with cream and just a pinch of sugar, just how she liked it, and sat down at her desk. "Ahh, its so peaceful right now, I think I'll try to write for a bit". For the next hour or so she sipped on her beverage and worked on her current novel. It was a mystery with a hint of forbidden romance between the detective and his rich and sexy client. Throughout the more saucy scenes, she couldn't help but giggle at what she was writing. "Oh my, what I wouldn't give to have even a fraction of this romance in my real life". As she dwelled on this however, she realized that things weren't exactly strictly platonic between her and Natsu. He always smiles at me differently than most people he cares about, and he has even given me the nickname Luce that only he uses, she thought. "Hmm, I wonder what he's up to right now?" She then quickly got her purse and shoes and headed straight for the guild.
On her way there she continued to ponder over her own feelings for her partner. Writing that steamy make out scene in my novel sure did get my own imagination going, not to mention I feel a bit giddy and a warmness in my lower stomach. I couldn't help but picture Natsu and I doing those things together. These feelings that I have for him can't continue to be bottled up like this forever. One day I might just explode and end up telling him everything! Just the thought of that happening made her shiver in embarrassment. No, I can't let that happen. I need to just make some subtle suggestions at how I truly feel without it getting to obvious and weird. If I watch his reactions closely enough, maybe I can find out how he truly feels about me. I know he's thickheaded and oblivious, but if he feels anything like I do than maybe I'll find out a way to make him reveal it to me. By now she had reached the guild and had mentally prepared herself to face her secret crush with a fierce determination to discover his feelings and possibly reveal her own.
"Hey Luce!" Natsu was over at the bar chatting and reminiscing with Erza and Gray about their mission from the other day. Lucy walked up to them and greeted them all and ordered a hot cup of tea from Mira. " HAHAHA! Man the look on that guys face when you broke his sword, was hilarious Erza!" Natsu cackled and slapped his knee with his hand as he did so.
"Hm yes I agree, it was quite funny how he wasn't expecting that. He didn't even know what to do next but to beg me for mercy." Erza said this while a look of triumph spread across her face.
"Thankfully for him, you just tied him up with rope hog-style and alerted the authorities. Meanwhile flame brain here and I, took care of his cronies." Gray finished the story while picturing the fight that took place where him and Natsu fought side-by-side for once like good frienemies should. Lucy was plotting while the conversation was going on. She was trying to find a legit, non-suspicious excuse for wanting Natsu to join her on an outing into Magnolia, and away from the guild, somewhere more private.
"Hey Natsu, would you mind coming with me to run some errands today?" "I know it sounds boring, but I could really use your help with something." Lucy asked kind of timidly because she was unsure what his reply would be.
"Sure thing Luce, if you ever need my help with anything you know that I'm there for you. What else are friends for?" He said enthusiastically with his huge, cheerful smile. He then slid off the stool and began to follow her out the big wooden double doors. I wonder what errand she might need my help for? Oh well, it doesn't really matter, I'll find out soon anyway. I'm just glad that I get to spend some time with her alone today. As he thought this, he slightly blushed and looked away as to make sure she couldn't see his face.
"So what kind of errand do you need my help with Luce?" He walked up beside her and had folded his arms behind his head, which he did frequently.
"Well… a couple of small things really. First I need your help with my evil landlady. If you could just come with me and look intimidating while I pay her my rent for the month, I would feel much more at ease. I doubt she will say anything too hateful to me while you're there." She looked over at him and smiled, which caused him to smile back and say,
"No problem! I can do that for you Lucy! It's the least I can do since Happy and I hang out with you at your place so much. You know if she was nicer about wanting your rent money, I bet that you wouldn't worry about it so much." Lucy thought for a second and agreed that his assumption was probably true. They went to Lucy's building to the landlady's office and paid her quite quickly with no incident. "HA! I knew that would work! Thank you Natsu you're a lifesaver!" She smiled at him again and this time she gave him a hug, which caught him off guard a little. He took a second to hug her back but when he did, it was gentle and warm. Wow he's so cozy and comfortable, uh-oh he might think I'm being weird if I hold onto him for too long. He refused to pull away though when she began to, which made her relax again. She just enjoyed this simple and modest closeness to him that she rarely had the pleasure of having. Once they had separated, she was ready to move on to her next phase of her scheme. "OK ready for the second errand that I wanted to accomplish today?" She was clearly getting excited about this part, which made Natsu think that it wouldn't be so bad.
"Yeah I'm all fired up! But what exactly is it? He scratched his head a little confused as to why she would get excited about errands.
"Hehe you will just have to wait and see when we get there!" She started to run ahead of him, so he ran after her towards their next destination.
She led him into the shopping district of Magnolia, packed with all sorts of nice shops that were filled with colorful products. They arrived at a clothing store named The Perfect Fit and she turned to face him. "This is it we're here!" she was so excited because this was her favorite clothing store. They had clothes for everyone and for all ages, and the clothes seemed to magically re-adjust to fit perfectly hence the name.
"Wait huh? We're going clothes shopping? That's not an errand Luce." He chuckled at her knowing full well that this was an activity that people usually enjoyed, especially girls like Lucy. She had a feeling that he would realize this and just hoped that he wouldn't refuse to go in with her.
"Well.. I know it's not really an errand but I've been wanting to buy this really pretty dress, but I specifically need a guy's opinion about how it looks on me, before I do. Besides, this is a good opportunity for you to look around at some clothes for yourself. You did just ruin one of your favorite outfits on our last mission didn't you?"
He nodded and said, "Yeah I sure could use a new outfit, plus if you need a guy's opinion than I'll help ya out!" Both were smiling at each other again, and Lucy was just thrilled.
"Great! Thanks again Natsu I knew I could count on you. Now let's go!" She rushed inside and immediately grabbed the dress she mentioned before. It was a long, dark, teal dress with a slit up the leg. It had small, black stars on all of it except the shoulder straps, and had a see-through top layer that had gold sparkles. There was a pair of teal, strappy high heels that matched perfectly with it that she also grabbed. "What's the reason that you want this dress for and why do you need a guy's opinion on it?" Natsu had a concerned look on his face. I hope she's not going to wear it to go on a date with a guy. She noticed the look on his face and realized what he thought. "There is this new, fancy restaurant that I've been wanting to go to for a while now, and I felt like I needed a new dress for the occasion. I've finally saved up enough to buy the dress, shoes and be able to afford to eat there. I was actually planning on going there tonight, but I'm going to be by myself which will be kind of lonely." She looked at him in the eyes with the pouty-est puppy dog face she could make at him and sighed softly. Come on Natsu…if you don't want me to go on dates with other guys, than you must have some romantic feelings for me…just come with me to dinner.
At first he looked sad seeing her look so pouty but then he smiled and said, "Well if you want some company at your fancy restaurant this evening, then I'd be happy to join you! You know how much I love a tasty meal." She obviously wants me to go with her to this place, how could I say no to those sad puppy-dog eyes that she was putting on so hard?
With that she hugged him again but quicker this time, thanked him and told him that she would go try on her new outfit now. A few minutes later she came out and asked, "How do I look?" in a too sexy of a voice. She did it accidentally so she blushed and played it off as a joke by laughing a little, though unconvincingly.
"Wow Luce…I've never seen you look so nice before! I think the colors look great on you, they go well with your skin and hair."
Who would have thought he was actually going to be good at this? She giggled, "You really think so?"
"Of course, when have I ever lied to you? Hey Luce I'm going to go pick out something nice to wear to this fancy restaurant, you go ahead and buy that outfit and I'll meet you outside." Natsu took off towards the men's section and looked at the entire collection of collared button down shirts with long sleeves. Man, why do all of these nice shirts have to be so uncomfortable? It will be totally worth it to look nice for Lucy though, this dinner sounds like it could be kind of like a date! He picked out a burgundy one, which looked great with his eyes and hair, then picked out a pair of corduroy pants in black with black dress shoes to match. He quickly bought the outfit and ran outside to meet Lucy.