Lucy stepped out from behind the wall; slowly, and with regal elegance, resisting the urge to fiddle with her complicatedly-styled hair. It simply wouldn't do for the Heartfilia heiress to appear anything less than immaculate, after all. She descended the large staircase; her princess-like aura pervading the room, and easily halting all communion throughout. Once settled at the bottom, she reveled in the multitude of gazes positioned solely on her. She felt as if she was weightless; aloft a cloud; extolled beyond fathomable measure. Her idle musings were cut short by the feeling of her lofty dress being adjusted. Snapping out of her short daze, Lucy glanced at the maid fidgeting beside her. She sighed internally and dismissed the maid, who bowed deeply before scuttling away.
Slightly embarrassed by her fluster, Lucy turned to face her father, who sneered at her disapprovingly. Her mother, always the sagacious one, sent an apologetic smile her way, as if sensing her lamentations. Unfortunately, Layla's efforts were in vain. Turning from her mother, Lucy continued on in her self reprimanding.
Jude, her father, made a spectacle of clearing his throat, before proudly—and extravagantly—announcing his family. Not that Lucy paid any heed to it. Such prosaic speeches were of no interest to her. She instead busied herself by surveying the elaborate dressings of the ballroom that evening. As Jude ended his speech with a flourish, the room erupted into raucous applause. Immediately following, festivities ensued. Lucy made her way to the amply provisioned dinner tables for a bite. Just that, unfortunately, as that was all decorum allowed for. Damn her wealth, she was starving! Lucy scoffed. 'Appearances. What a blasphemous notion.'
Lucy retreated to a corner to indulge in her hors d'œuvres. Sinking her teeth into an intricately designed creation, for lack of a better word (as it so spectacular, no moniker bestowed upon it would do it even a portion of its minimally required justice), she barely suppressed a moan. As expected, her chefs' dishes were of only the most supreme quality. Lucy took a moment to examine in length the exquisite plate before her—from the sauce; which held such a lustre, that one could gaze upon it with genuine uncertainty and wonder if it was perhaps infused with stars; to even the hand-carved plate, in all of its unparalleled beauty.
Suddenly, said plate was grabbed from her hand by an unknown assailant. She gawked at the offender, hatred and indignation washing over her as a pestilence. Pearl white teeth peaked from behind her glossed lips, her entire stature changing instantaneously. Her rising cry of outrage, however, died in her throat, as she was met with smoldering onyx eyes.
"I hope you don't mind too much, Luigi."
This time over, Lucy did nothing to retain her verbal—and physical—retribution. As the boy rubbed his cheek from his vantage point on the ground, Lucy smirked in triumph. The boy released a pout, not unlike that of a thousand abused puppies, eliciting a small giggle from Lucy. Her eyes widened, and she turned around, raising both palms to shield her mouth from further emitting the offending sound. She had made it a point neither to smile nor laugh that night! She huffed stubbornly, yet she held a hand out towards the unfamiliar boy who had caused her to break her self-employed covenant. He grabbed it in response, and hauled himself up with a cheeky grin. To her chagrin, she found herself returning the smile.
The boy held out his palm to her, his grin widening impossibly further.
"M'name's Natsu, wanna be friends?"
Lucy huffed, still stubborn in her ways, although her rapidly expanding smile contradicted her next words.
"How old are you, five? And who do you think you are, addressing me as 'Luigi,' and taking my food?"
Natsu simply beamed down at her, his smile not faltering in the slightest. Lucy huffed again, continuing her string of insults. However, contrary to her (great abundance of) slander, she found herself being drawn to the boy before her. Without her knowing, her hand had reached up to meet his, and she was temporarily startled by his chuckle. Her eyes trailed to their conjoined hands, and she quickly pulled hers back, cradling it to her chest. His laughs did not subside, causing a blush (the likes of which she had never thus seen nor experienced) to spread to the tips of her ears.
"You're funny, Luigi!"
"My name is not Luigi!"
A/N: I know I should be working on Surveillance (or, more importantly, doing my AP homework), but I had this already written on some paper because I did it for my English class. I was originally going to make up my own characters, but I was lazy, and ended up using Natsu and Lucy, so I decided to post it (after a few tweaks)! It's on wattpad as well. I hope you enjoyed it! I will not be doing a sequel.
Plus, Sunday was my birthday! :D I'm 15 now!
Posted: November 11, 2015
Updated: November 12, 2015
~Reginna Grace
