"Ahh.." Lucy breathed. She stretched with a groan and brought her eyes back to the stack of paper littered with ink sitting in front of her. She gingerly returned her pen to its holder and hummed quietly.
"I think that may be enough writing for one day, I'm beat." She looked out her window. Stars glittered in the night sky and all seemed so peaceful. Her peaceful appreciation was then so rudely interrupted by a loud thump outside of the door of her apartment. She jumped at the sound, and yelped loudly.
"Errr.." She stuttered. "What was that? Maybe just the landlady cleaning? But why so late..?"
She stayed quiet for a minute, absentmindedly picking at the hem of her skirt, hoping whatever it was went away. She sighed in relief and smiled when nothing made a peep.
"Well, must have been my imagination! Guess I really am tired. After today, who wouldn't be.." She recalled the earlier events of the day, Natsu starting a quarrel with anyone in the guild who dared speak.
"He was really 'fired up' today, that's for sure." She spoke quietly to herself with a frown.
After hours of listening to Natsu yell while she tried to hold a conversation with Wendy and Carla, she'd had enough, and bid farewell to her fellow guildmates.
"Oy, Luce! Where are you going? Don't you want to see me beat Popsicle's ass?" She recalled him saying as she strolled towards the guild hall doors.
"I'll pass, thank you very much. I'm going home to work on my novel. See ya tomorrow." She responded in a monotone voice and waved without looking behind her.
"He's so obnoxious." She pouted as she stood up from her desk, finally done reliving the events of earlier.
"Maybe I should take a bath?" She put her finger to her chin in consideration.
"Mira did give me those bath salts...Allright, guess I will then!" She exclaimed contently as she started to move towards her bathroom.
"Also, I really need to stop talking to myself." She grimaced and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand lightly.
As Lucy started the water, she hummed a tune as she carefully undid the buttons on her high collared tanktop and shrugged it off of her shoulders and tossed it on the floor. She unhooked her black laced bra with little effort and hung it on the hook next to her mirror, then wiggled out of her tiny white skirt and let it drop to the floor. Her finger hooked under the small bit of lace at her waist, and swiftly stepped out of her lacy, translucent, black thong. She turned to the mirror and looked herself up and down, with a giggle.
She ran her hands softly along her sides and said to herself "Lookin' good Lucy! As always of course."
She laughed at her own cockiness and untied the blue bow in her hair, letting her golden locks fall and flow over her. She reveled at the sight of how long her hair had grown, and she turned her hips to see that it has reached the curve in her lower back.
"Oh crap!" She yelled as she looked to see the water almost reaching the top of the tub. She quickly turned the knobs off and sighed in relief.
"That...was close. I need to be more careful next time." She drained a bit of the water away, and sprinkled the salts that Mira gifted her in the water. She closed her eyes inhaled deeply and a let out a small moan.
"Wow these smell amazing. Mira is the best." Lucy then eased herself into the steaming water, and sunk herself down until the water just barely touched her nose, and blew out through her mouth, making bubbles. She then closed her eyes and happily drifted away.
A few minutes passed, and suddenly Lucy's eyes batted wide open when another thump, louder this time, sounded, presumably from outside her door again. She quickly lifted herself from the water, trembling with a mix of fear and cold.
"What could that be? I'm not sure that I want to know.." She whispered.
She mustered the courage within herself to go see what it was. She couldn't go out in her current state, though. She considered dressing herself, but assured herself that it was probably just a stray cat or something that snuck in, and that once she checked, she could return to her bath. Drops of water ran down her body and her hair dripped water onto the floor. She swiftly grabbed the soft, pink towel hanging on the rack, and wrapped it tightly around her body. Unfortunately the towel was a bit small, so her hips spilled out of the side of the towel. She grunted in distaste, but it was all she had for the time being.
She opened the bathroom door, and strided quietly towards her apartment door. When she reached it, she stood silently and listened. Small thumps echoed quietly. Reluctant, she opened the door and peeked around it. She really shouldn't have been so surprised at what she saw. There sat a certain pink haired fire mage, staring at the wall next to her door and punching it sloppily and with little effort. His eyes were lidded and he seemed to be swaying slightly. Her mouth dropped.
"N-Natsu? What the hell?" She stuttered.
He sleepily turned his head towards her, and when their eyes met, his eyes flicked wide open and he smiled ear to ear. "Lusheee!" He slurred, letting out a small hiccup.
"What are you doing here? It's really late you know. You should be home." She scolded.
Natsu stood, and pushed his way past Lucy into her apartment. "I'd much rather be here!" He almost yelled.
"Would you keep your voice down? And don't go just inviting yourself into my apartment!" She said angrily, though she felt her cheeks heat up slightly at his comment. She sighed and closed the door. She then turned toward him, one hand at her chest, keeping her towel up and one at her waist. She watched as he plopped onto her chair, and looked at her. He slowly looked her over, seeming to linger slightly on the skin peeking out of her towel, and returned to meet her gaze.
"Err.. Why are you naked, Lushee?" He hiccuped again.
Her face heated up, and she walked towards him quickly and smacked him upside his head, to which he let out a small whine. "Because I was taking a bath, and I didn't expect some pervert to show up outside my door and come in uninvited!" She yelled. "I'm going to dress. Stay right there and don't touch anything." She said with extra emphasis.
She returned to the bathroom, and slammed the door in anger. "Damn him..." She looked in the mirror and saw her cheeks were a bright shade of pink. She took off the towel, and used it to wring out her hair. She then guided it along her curves until she was dry, and she looked to the stack of clean clothes she set out for herself before her bath, and picked them up. She slid on the lacy reddish-orange thong, and fitted the black shorts over her hips. She put on the bra that matched the thong, and threw the red, loose fitting tanktop over her head. It hung low on her chest, but she shrugged it off and opened the door. What she saw when she did made her want to scream. Natsu was sitting on her floor, playing with a large flame in his hand, dangerously close to her bookshelf. She ran over and kicked him, putting his flame out.
"Would you stop being destructive? You could have burned my things, you pyro!" She screeched.
Natsu sat back up and looked at her with a sad face painted on him. "You told me not to *hic* touch anything, Luce. I was listening to you." He stumbled over his words.
"So you think it's okay to make a flameball in the middle of my living room? You're clueless." She cried. Her heart panged when she saw his face melt into a bigger frown. Just as she was about to say something, she saw him look up at her and his expression change.
He smirked at her and said with a low tone, "Y'know Luce, you look really good in that outfit."
She could barely understand what he said with how much he butchered his words, but her face turned a bright red all the same. He wasn't acting like himself at all, he's never complimented her so openly.
"W-whats with you? You're acting like m-more of an idiot than usual. And w-where is Happy anyway?" She barely got her words out she was stuttering so much.
He frowned again and averted her gaze to look down at the floor. "I-I got in a drinking contest with Cana and Gildarts when you left.. Cana won, but I was really close to *hic* beating her!" The fire returned to his eyes for a split second only to be extinguished again. "Happy told me I was too stupid and went home without me.."
His words shocked her. "You're drunk? Are you serious, Natsu? Why would you think you could ever beat Cana?" Lucy said. She was surprised at his actions, Natsu almost never got drunk. Hell, she's probably been intoxicated more times than him. Plus, drinking with Cana? She was astounded that Natsu could even speak, let alone walk all the way to her apartment.
She sighed and kneeled down to look at him. "Do you want some water? I can get you some if you'd like." Lucy spoke quietly.
He smiled at her offer. "Thanks, but I'm fine, Luce. I'm feeling-" he cut himself off with a strange noise and brought his hand to his mouth.
"Yeah, water it is." She breathed.
She poured him a cup of ice water and brought it to him. "Here you go, Natsu. Drink up, you'll start to feel better soon."
He took the glass and grinned. "Lushee is sooo nice!"
Lucy blushed slightly, and wondered just how long she could keep this up with him making comments like this. Natsu gazed at the ice cubes and muttered something about Gray under his breath. Lucy guided the cup to his mouth and tipped it up. "Just drink it." She said in an annoyed tone. He gulped it down, and passed the cup back to Lucy. "Good boy." She said as she rose to go put the glass away.
"Haa! I'm a good boy!" He flopped backwards onto the floor with his hands in the air in celebration and hiccuped.
"Yeah yeah." She droned. When she returned to him, he was standing and playing with the books on her shelf. She grabbed his shoulders with a sigh and led him to the chair. "So, why didn't you just break into my apartment like you usually do anyway?" She joked.
Natsu was looking away, fascinated by the stars outside her window. "Oh, well you always tell me not to, so I didn't." He stated with a slur.
"Yeah, like you ever listened before.." She muttered.
"Hmmm.. The stars are pretty" Natsu said quietly.
"Yeah, they are." Lucy smiled, following Natsu's gaze to focus on the lights in the sky.
"Kinda like you, Luce." She snapped her head back to him to see him staring at her intently.
"W-wha..." Lucy breathed.
She had lost her will to speak entirely, her face flustered. She stared at him with an uneasy face, trying to unjumble her mind. Natsu rose and turned away.
"Oy, you got any food Luce? I'm starving!" His feet clumsily moved towards the kitchen.
"A-are you kidding? After saying something..like that.. you can't just p-pretend it didn't happen.." She barely kept herself from screaming. Why was he saying such things? Sure, he's drunk, but this was just too much.. Natsu turned back to look at her. His eyes glinted and he smirked as he walked back towards her. His expression made her lip quiver.
"But Lusheee... I'm hungry." Lucy could have sworn there was a growl in his voice.