Natsu awoke to the shrill ringing of his phone. Groaning, he picked up without bothering to look to the caller ID.
"Hello…?" He mumbled sleepily. His senses perked up slightly at the sound of a familiar giggle.
"Natsuuuu…" Lucy's voice came slurred through the phone. He immediately snapped to attention, his eyebrows furrowing in distress.
"Lucy? What's the matter?" He asked.
"That's mean, Naaatsu." She whined. "Does something need to be wrong for me to call my beeest frieend?"
"Are you drunk?" He asked in complete disbelief.
"Nuh-uh." She said, then there was a gulping sound. "'Drunk' is past tense, I am 'drinking'."
Natsu inhaled sharply and threw the bedcovers off himself.
"Where are you?" He said, holding phone between his shoulder and jaw while he tugged a shirt on.
"A fairy with pretty brown hair...but why isn't she wearing a shirt?" Lucy mumbled.
"Cana." Natsu swore under his breath and raced out the door. He thanked God that Cana's house was in walking distance of his as he sprinted down the street.
He pounded on the door and jiggled the doorknob only for him to realize that the door was unlocked.
"Stupid Cana." He muttered resentfully. He walked into the living room, trying not to gag on the smell of alcohol. The first thing he saw was Cana lying on her stomach, snoring loudly, on her couch. The second thing he noticed was her blue bra (the only garment of clothing ever covering her top) was strewn across a lamp. He blushed. And lastly, he saw Lucy. She was leaning against the coffee table with a bottle clutched in her hand. Her hair was disheveled, there was a heavy flush on her cheeks, and she was staring at Natsu with a curious expression on her face.
"You're not wearing pants." She pointed out, and Natsu looked down at himself. In fact, he was only in boxers. She giggled as he blushed on his cheeks deepened. She lifted the bottle in her hands to her mouth and Natsu quickly snatched it out of her hands.
"I think you've had enough." He said, walking over to a trash can and dropping the bottle in there.
She just hiccuped and giggled. Natsu glared at the beer in the trash can.
Suddenly, she put on a petulant face, "Everyone took off their clothes." She huffed. "I feel left out, should I take off mine?"
With that, she began pulling her tank top off, exposing her stomach and part of her purple bra.
"Don't." Natsu said quickly, his eyes widening. She froze, staring at him for a moment with her shirt pulled up.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, letting her shirt drop. "I should take off my pants instead!" She said happily, reaching down to unbutton her jeans. He scrambled forward with a yelp and pulled her hands away.
"No!" He cried, his voice an octave higher than usual. "No taking your clothes off!"
"Aww, that's not faaaiir." She whined. He sighed in exasperation.
"Come on, let's go home." He said. She raised both of her arms like a child wanting to be lifted up.
"Carry me." She commanded.
"Can you walk?" He questioned, frowning slightly.
She hesitated before saying, "Nuh-uh."
"Liar." He muttered but crouched down to hoist her onto his back.
"Ooh, you're tall! I can see the whole city from here!" She said.
"You are really wasted." Natsu commented.
"Like on GTA?" She asked and Natsu laughed.
"I'm better at GTA than you are, I don't get wasted…" She mumbled sleepily, resting her head in the crook of Natsu's neck.
"There is no way you are better than me at GTA." He scoffed. She shifted her head slightly.
"Am too…" She mumbled, her lips moving against the back of his neck. He shivered.
"Are you cold?" She asked.
"No." He croaked then cleared his throat. He kicked open the front door of Cana's house and stepped outside. Lucy's car, which he hadn't noticed before, was parked in the driveway. For a moment, he thought about driving Lucy to her house. But no, he didn't have a license, his motion sickness was too severe, he'd probably crash the car sooner than Lucy would in her current state.
He sighed and trudged back toward his home.
"I'm taking you to my house, okay?" He said. Lucy giggled.
"Look, Natsu! I have a mustache!" She laughed.
"That's nice." He said without looking back.
"Hmph. You didn't even look." She said. Suddenly, she planted her hands on both sides of his face and something silky was put between his mouth and nose.
"See? Now you have mustache too." She said. He laughed. He walked up his own driveway and kicked open his front door.
"Natsu…" Lucy mumbled as he carried her up the stairs. "I don't feel well…"
Alarm shot through him, "Are you gonna throw up?"
"No! I won't!" She denied hastily. He ignored this and hurried up the stairs. He placed her on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet.
"I'll get you some water." He said. He left and came back shortly with a bottle of water.
"Do you need to-?" He was cut off by Lucy throwing herself over the toilet and retching.
"Lucy!" He said in alarm. She continued dry heaving and Natsu scrambled forward to hold her hair back.
"Lucy, are you-" Once again, he was cut off by Lucy finally emptying the foul contents of her stomach.
A pang of sympathy went through him, along with a feeling of inadequacy. He wasn't used to this, being the caretaker. Lucy was too often taking care of him after one of his crazy schemes gets him hurt. It felt odd, the roles being switched.
"Drink." He held out the water bottle once Lucy had finished vomiting. She took the water and drank like a man dying of thirst. She had finished the whole bottle in about twenty seconds.
Under normal circumstances, Natsu would've made some comment about her looking like a starving cave man, but he decided this wasn't "normal circumstances".
"You should eat something." He commented. She didn't reply. Her playful and silly demeanor was completely gone. She looked sleepy and embarrassed.
"You should eat something." He repeated, internally wincing. He was determined to act like that whole incident never happened, to spare Lucy the embarrassment. She wouldn't remember it the next day, anyway.
Lucy reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out handful of peppermint lifesavers.
"Where did you get those?" Natsu asked.
"I dunno." She said, unwrapping one and popping it in her mouth. He sighed in exasperation.
"I'm tired." She yawned after she finished her candy.
"You can sleep in my bed. Come-"
"I can walk." She interrupted him as he was crouching down to pick her up. He fliched, a hurt look flashing across his face. She got unsteadily to her feet and stumbled to the bathroom door. As she was trying to open it, it hit her in the face and she stumbled back.
"You can't walk." He said, grinning as he pulled her up by the waist and carried her like a baby.
"Ewww, Natsu! Get your hand off my butt!" She yelled, squirming.
Natsu felt his face heating up, "Okay." He said, removing his hand from her backside. She started to sag down due to the lack of support underneath her.
"No! No! I'm gonna fall!" She shrieked, even though he still had his other hand wrapped around her waist.
He chuckled darkly as she squirmed around.
"If you keep moving so much, you will fall." He said, and she instantly stilled. He walked into her bedroom and set her down on the bed. She immediately put her face into the pillows and hid under her covers.
"Um, are you okay?" Natsu asked. The lump in the blankets shifted slightly but did not respond.
"Lucy?" He said, poking the lump. It inched away from him slightly. He poked it again. It inched farther away. He poked it again. It inched more and bumped into the headboard.
"Ow!" Lucy exclaimed and threw the blankets off herself. She rubbed her head irritably. Natsu grinned. She looked at him and her bottom lip started trembling. Natsu's grin vanished completely as her eyes welled with tears.
"Lucy-" He began, but it was too late. Lucy started bawling. He took a step forward, and then took a step back. This became some kind of odd shuffling dance because Natsu had absolutely no idea what to do. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen Lucy crying before, he had, but this was different. Normally, he knew the reason Lucy was crying, what he had to do to make her stop, and how to prevent it from happening again. This time, he had absolutely no idea why she was crying. Was crying a side effect of drinking? He'd never seen Cana cry while she was drunk before, so probably not. Had he done something? Was she in pain? Had she just had some kind of flashback to a traumatic experience, like in the movies?
Lucy continued bawling and he moved toward her.
"Lucy…?" He said tentatively.
"Shut up." She hissed, instantly ceasing her wailing, though her face still shone with tears. He took a hasty step back.
"You suck. I hate you." She said, glaring. Natsu flinched. She turned her back to him and pulled the covers up. He felt hurt, more hurt than he would care to admit. He knew she was under the influence of alcohol but, still, why would she say that? She didn't really mean it...did she? Not wanting to think about it anymore, he started to leave the room.
"Where are you going?" Lucy said as he opened the door. He turned, surprised. She was no longer glaring at him. Instead, she was staring at him with that same curious expression she had when he found her at Cana's house.
"To sleep." He said, pointing out the door.
"Stay." She commanded.
"You're weird." Natsu said, closing the door and walking back to the bed. He shimmied under the covers and lay awkwardly next to her.
She snuggled up close to him causing his face to turn bright red.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled sleepily. "I don't hate you."
"I know." He said.
"In fact," She said, already half asleep. "I love you…"
And then, her breathing steadied and she fell asleep.
Using what little courage he had when it came to these things, Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and muttered,
"Love you too, Lucy."
This was my first Nalu fanfic! I hope it wasn't too horrible! I figured Lucy would be a very emotional drunk, but let me know if you thought Lucy should've acted differently.
Please review!
With love and peppermint lifesavers (they're my favorite),
Dolly
