1. A New Mission and the Wrath of Lucy
Sunlight streamed through the open window, bathing her room in a golden glow. Her soft, pink sheets were cocooned around her curvy figure like a protective shield. Even her tousled, blonde head was tucked under the covers, blocking out the morning light. After all, in Lucy's mind, 8 in the morning was far too early to be getting up on the weekend.
The stellar spirit mage gave a soft sigh, stretching languidly and pointing her toes. With a squeaky yawn, she curled her body back into a ball and relaxed back into her pillow. After a moment or two, her breathing slowed and sleep began to reclaim her.
While Lucy took a lazier approach to the dawn of a new day, certain dragon slayers were a bit more active. A set of fingers clung to the edge of her windowsill, hauling a mage in a grey muffler up onto the second storey of the apartment complex. The pink-haired man peeked through the glass. A second set of eyes, belonging to a winged blue exceed, joined him moments later. They shared a look, before turning back to the window. According to Natsu, mornings were for new adventures.
"LUCY!" he roared, barrelling through her window. "Let's go on a mission!" Happy catapulted onto her bed, as she promptly sat up and started screaming.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY ROOM!" she bellowed, searching for something to chuck at his stupid, grinning face. Her frantic fingers found purchase on an alarm clock. As it shot across the room and made contact with Natsu's head, a deafening ringing was emitted by the little clock. An empty glass followed it, smashing upon making contact with his shoulder. Natsu held up his arms in protection as a notepad rocketed in his direction. The pen that shadowed it hit Happy, who flew back into Natsu's arms weeping.
"Natsu, she hit me! She hit me!" he cried. The exceed turned to glare at Lucy. "You should give me a fish as an apology present!"
"An apology present? AN APOLOGY PRESENT!" she yelled, kicking off the sheets and storming over to the pair of intruders. The wave of terror that washed over them was incomparable to anything they'd ever felt.
"Natsu, I'm scared!" Happy wailed, burying his head in the fire dragon slayers arms. Natsu gulped.
"Me too, little guy," he whispered, shaking uncontrollably.
"How's THIS for an apology present?" A foot, clad in a fluffy pink bed sock, smacked into Natsu's gut, and he went flying out the window, calling her name as he fell.
Feeling an inkling of guilt, Lucy stomped over to the window to check if the two idiots were hurt. She looked out onto the street to see Happy holding Natsu by his arms, hovering in mid-air. The little blue cat looked fine, even if the same couldn't be said for the pink-haired mage.
"Huh, that wasn't so bad," he mused.
"You didn't get kicked," Natsu groaned.
"Whatever, fatty. See you at the guild, Godzilla-Lucy!"
"Hey! I'm not fat!"
"Hey, I'm not Godzilla!
Lucy could vaguely hear the little cat arguing with Natsu as they disappeared into the horizon. Turning away from the window, she smiled to herself. She'd never admit it, but she actually kind of enjoyed Natsu's wake up calls. Even if they did interrupt her beauty sleep.
Half an hour later, Lucy wandered into the guild, dressed in her usual blue and white attire. With her keys strapped to her skirt, she was ready for a mission.
After winning the Grand Magic Games and surviving the chaos of the Eclipse Project, the whole of Fairy Tail was in good spirits. Master Makarov had been so proud, he'd used their winnings from the games to rebuild the guild hall to its former glory. Now complete with a new-and-improved bar, pool, courtyard, spa, library, training room and restaurant, Fairy Tail was back and better than ever.
Nab stood in front of the jobs board, staring thoughtfully at the many sheets of paper decorating it. Lucy joined him, giving a small smile. "Morning Nab! Picked out a job yet?"
A howl of laughter from the bar interrupted the towering man's response. "Bah! If he hadn't picked up one during the seven years you guys were in Tenroujima, he's never going to pick one up!" Wakaba crowed.
"It's not like you've done anything lately, you old fart!" Macao responded, punching the smoking man in the arm.
"What'd you call me, you senile asshole?" Wakaba yelled, punching him back. He spat his pipe out onto the bar counter, and cracked his knuckles.
"Look, you're memory's gone already! On your pension yet?" yelled Macao, launching another punch into his drinking buddy's side.
"Shut your trap, you old coot!" As a brawl erupted between the two men, Lucy noticed a gap in the board, where the cork was showing through. She noted that there were singe marks on the one of the papers next to the gap, and let out a sigh. It seemed that Natsu had already picked out a job for them.
"There you are Lucy! I thought you'd be too lazy to come!" A very familiar voice caused Lucy to turn around. Just as she had predicted, Natsu was holding a bit of paper in his hand. The number detailed at the bottom had at least eight digits. She had nothing against the healthy sum of money; she was more worried about the danger that came with it.
"I'm going to ignore that last part. What's the job?" she asked, resigning herself to whatever fate Natsu had planned
"Job?" he stared blankly at her for a second, before remembering the little sheet of paper. "Oh yeah! This is a great one, see? There's lots of fighting, and there's something about an ancient evil, and loads of danger, and-"
"That sounds like it should be on the S-Class board!" Lucy baulked, snatching the sheet of paper away from him. Before she had the chance to read, he grabbed her by the arm and whispered in her ear.
"It was! But I swapped the S-Class paper with a boring mission, so there's not a gap or anything! Aren't I smart?"
Instead of receiving a complement for his genius, he was rewarded with a smack over the head. "Idiot! Don't you remember what happened last time we took an S-Class mission? Erza will kill us!"
"She can't kill us if we're already on the mission, right? She can't find us either, 'cause she won't know we're gone! No gap, remember?"
"Don't you think a crumby mission will stick out on the S-Class board?" she said helplessly.
He thought for a moment, before shrugging. "Who cares? If we move fast, it won't matter if they find out later!"
"Then what was the point of trying to be stealthy in the first place?" she hissed, as Natsu dragged her out of the guild.
"It gives me an excuse to wear this." He held up a pair of black ninja masks, slipping on over his own head and throwing to other at Lucy. "Nin-nin!"
He started to run, still grasping Lucy's arm. His hands were almost uncomfortably warm. "C'mon, Happy and I already packed for you! I got everything while you were in the shower!" he said gleefully.
"You broke into my apartment again?" she roared, tearing her arm free. She pulled back her fist, preparing to knock his brains out, when something occurred to her. "Wait… You packed for me?"
He nodded, frozen to the spot. She took a shaky breath. "What exactly did you pack, Natsu?" she asked, eyes flashing dangerously.
"I-I…. Uh, just what's normally in your bag. That's the stuff that's usually in there, right?"
Lucy swiped the bag up, and unzipped it. Inside was a small mountain of bras and panties. It looked like he'd stuffed her entire underwear drawer into the one pack. There was lace, silk, everything she could have possibly imagined. He'd gone through it and stuffed it all in there, no matter how skimpy some of her unmentionables were.
It took all of her self-control not to kill him in that very moment. Before she summoned Cancer to chop off his fingers one by one, she noticed something else, tucked into the side of the pack. Her face turned, pink, and then red as she pulled out what was unmistakably a handful of tampons.
"Natsu," she murmured quietly, dropping the bag onto the street. "Natsu…"
She started towards him, hands balled into fists, trembling with anger and humiliation.
"Natsu... I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
The train from Magnolia Station had only departed a few short seconds ago, and yet Natsu was already keeled over, retching. He had a bucket on his lap, and his face was covered into bruises. One of his eyes had swollen shut. Happy had tied a bandage around his head, and was patting his back as his breakfast threatened to re-emerge.
Lucy had no sympathy for the motion sickness or the injuries. If it was up to her, he'd have two black eyes instead of one, but Happy had rescued him before she could do any further damage. Well, not so much of a rescue, actually. It was more of a 'pick-him-up-and-drop-him-somewhere-else-before-Lucy-knocked-him-unconscious'. Either way, Lucy was still furious with the pervert. She was even more furious when she discovered a small hole singed into the bottom of her favourite panties.
Revenge could wait. She was already starting to feel a little better about things. Maybe it was because of Natsu's motion sickness.
Lucy analysed the mission sheet again. It wasn't as scary as Natsu had made it sound. In fact, it seemed pretty tame compared to what he usually picked, actually.
Please help us. I run a small beach-side hotel that has been plagued by angry spirits and ghosts over the last few months. I believe the cause of the disturbance to be linked to an old book I found in the basement that details an ancient evil. Anyone who can banish the spirits shall be rewarded with a hefty sum of cash.
Alexander Breichs, White Shore Cabins
Reward: 128,000,000 jewels
Apparently, the mages sent to solve the spirit crisis would get to stay in a private cabin as well, which meant no sleeping in tents. It also meant a gourmet breakfast buffet in the morning, as well as access to the day spa and pool. Natsu had actually picked the best possible mission. Lucy had seen some of the jobs on the S-Class board, and they did not look fun. It was almost always slaying a giant monster, or eliminating a dark guild. Lots of killing, and lots of fighting.
In fact, it was really strange that he hadn't picked one of those missions. He was more into smacking heads around than banishing vengeful ghosts. Maybe it was the whole 'ancient evil' thing that got him excited. He had gone on about it earlier. That was probably it.
Lucy looked out the windows and watched the landscape rush by. Yeah, she was angry. But most of that anger was directed at herself for not being more furious with him. The more she thought about it, the less she minded it. In fact, she was perfectly fine with him seeing her underwear. She wanted him to see them.
Not that it mattered, anyway. Natsu was too slow. There's no way he would of thought of it the same way she did. What did underwear mean to him? To Natsu, it was just a bit of clothing. Clothes were clothes, regardless of where you wore them. What did it matter what they covered?
Yep, that's his thoughts alright, Lucy mused. Adorably innocent, loving and friendly, he'd probably have no concept of sexiness. Either that or he just didn't find her attractive.
Lucy felt a sudden urge to shatter the window. She turned back to Natsu, hugging his bucket.
I can't let him know.
Yup, I'm one of those writers who leave pretty little notes at the end. Please take the time to read them- I'll keep it short. Pinky swear. Anyway, this is my first fan fic, and my first attempt at writing Fairy Tail. I see Lucy as temperamental, which will explain the whole 'Natsu-abuse' thing. However, I think she puts part of it on, which I hopefully conveyed here. As for Natsu, I think he's slow, but I don't think he's stupid. I personally think he understands things of a more adult nature, but sometimes misses the innuendo leading people to misconstrue that slowness as ignorance and innocence. Lucy (being one of those people) hasn't realised this.
Anyway, the next chapter will be up shortly. I plan on writing quite a bit on this. My goal is between 20 and 30 chappies of pure, NaLu goodness, plus whatever else I can think of. Expect some other couplings too. It's not like I only ship for one couple (*cough* GaLe, Jerza, Elfgreen, Gruvia, Super GaLe *cough*)
Thanks for reading! Please review and stuff. Feedback is much appreciated!