"Good morning, Natsu."
Lucy spoke quietly in the dull sunlit room, her words like honey covered in razorblades as they hit the pink mage's eardrums; him flinching as he slowly turned to glance at her. She was sitting at her desk facing him, as he had somehow ended in her bed.
"G'mornin'…" He muttered, clamping a hand to his head. He couldn't for the life of him be glad for his dragon senses; after all, they enhanced everything.
The blonde watched him with observant eyes, a gleam of amusement to see the the dragon slayer in such a sorry sight, his eyes tired and his head pounding.
"Welcome to the world of a hangover." She laughed, her brown eyes looking far too smug for Natsu's liking, and he silently wished he had taken more fun out of her the day after he had taken her home from being drunk.
"Gh… Even the silence is noisy…" He growled, leaning forward to sit up as he faced her. He couldn't say he even remembered what happened last night, but by the looks of how warm the bed was and the lingering scent of Lucy muffled by himself, it was a good guess that he had been asleep a long time. Not to mention, Lucy was already settled in clothes like she had woken a long time ago.
"I'll make you some tea to settle your head." Lucy said, standing up from the seat, a blanket falling off her lap in a delicate manner. She then nodded in the direction of the door, gesturing for him to follow. "Won't be long."
Natsu squinted, watching her as she walked off towards the kitchen of her dingy apartment, peeling the pastel sheets off him as he practically had to drag himself out of her bed. If Cana got hangover's like this, he felt she needed a round of applause. It was a odd pain, made you ache rather than hurt like if you were wounded.
"I didn't even drink that much.." He muttered, running a hand through his pink hair which he knew for certain was a mess as he could feel the tips across the front of his forehead, no matter how focused he was.
"Probably doesn't agree too much with you being a dragon slayer, liquor can be strong and it effects everyone differently." She said, all to wisely as she filled the kettle, still with a slight smile on her lips.
"That's a pain in the ass." He grumbled, dumping himself on the couch, watching as she moved the metal water heater to the stove; turning on the electric to warm it for tea. She leaned against the counter, the sunlight falling across her face from the window that was only half covered by a thin curtain; the purple in her sweater making her brown eyes look darker than usual.
Natsu leaned back in the couch, narrowing his eyes at her, she seemed to be watching him very deviously. "Was it bad or somethin'?" He asked, raising his brows, accusingly.
"Not bad… You were quite pleasant actually," her eyes closed as a smile settled on her features, seeming calm considering how easily she got embarrassed, he assumed nothing crazy had happened either. "Luckily you're not an angry drunk like Erza!"
"G-gh, Erza-" He said with wide eyes, glad that she hadn't been around to witness or at least learn of his small drinking contest he had been fooled into. After all, he couldn't resist a challenge and one had been put on the table.
"Yes…" Lucy shivered, pivoting on her left foot to take the kettle off the stove and pour the water in to two white mugs, dunking a green tea bag in each. Then she calmly walked over and held the cup out towards him, the look she gave him was something new, a concerned look.
The dragon slayer took the mug, encasing his arms around the heat as his eyes raised to hers.
"What… why are you looking at me funny…?"
Then finally, the pink lit up on her cheeks just how he had suspected if he had done something wrong. "What did I do?"
"Oh… it's nothing… y-you just asked me something…" She flicked her eyes away, sitting carefully beside him and avoiding eye contact. "It's fine though…"
"Oh. Was it bad?"
"Well… it was something I really thought you would forget about…" She mumbled, bringing the mug up to her lips, sipping awkwardly as she tried to avoid blushing any further.
"So it is bad."
"N-no… I was just surprised… I didn't expect it… not from you…"
He frowned watching her, why couldn't she just spit it out? Surely if he had said it, it was something on his mind and he would already know of it anyway. Judging by the look on her face, it either made her uncomfortable or it was something embarrassing elsewhere.
"Oh…" He replied, as if trying to egg her on with continuing. Though when she finally gave him a glance, he forced a huge smile onto his face, ignoring the pounding in his head. He wanted to know what she was keeping quiet. "C'mon. What's bugging ya?"
Lucy blushed, a lot heavier than before, re-altering herself on the chair.
"Um…" She rested the mug in her lap, gluing her eyes to it; her body tensing up as she seemed to grow small on the fabric. "Y-you… remember how we went out with Asuka?"
"Yeah?" He asked, sipping on the tea himself, the bittersweet taste of honey cradling down his newly realised sore throat.
"W-well… you asked me… wh…. why I didn't kiss you…"
"And what did you say?" He replied quickly, apparently unphased by the question himself not even letting her sentence sink in; she defiantly looked shocked by his question.
"Because we're friends…" She whispered, though Natsu seemed unsatisfied.
"So what was wrong?"
"W-we are… just… 'friends', right?"
He narrowed his eyes at her, falling silent. It wasn't that he had never thought of it before, he just… He didn't know how he was supposed to respond. What sort of answer was she after… Of course he cared for her, but just 'friends' meant something by the way she simply said it.
"I want a serious answer." She added, sounding a little more confident with her words. "What do you see in me? One of your guild mates? A friend, a colleague? Do you even see me as a girl?!" She scoffed, getting a little impatient, her voice rising a little as her tone grew worried. This was certainly something she had been holding onto for a while, and he couldn't help but lean back and blink to soak it all in.
"Of course I see you as a girl." Natsu replied, slow and steady as he placed his mug on the table, pressing his forefinger into his temple as his head began to throb once more as a reminder that he still had liquor in his system.
"Like… how would you feel if I started dating someone?" Lucy asked, her eyes finally sitting on the pink haired male, demanding quicker responses; her legs pressed together like a pair of straighteners and lips pressed against one another in impatience.
Natsu didn't need to look to feel her brown eyes watching him, his expression faltering as he became a little nervous with his movement. Though as he leaned back to face her once more, he tried his best to look somewhat confident in the matter.
"It would depend." He settled on.
"Depend on what?"
"H…How happy you were." He said, a little quieter than he intended. He wasn't used to talking about this, and he was surprised she was demanding such things from him, especially considering she seemed to know how fantastic a hang over felt.
Her face turned paranoid, glancing away again. "Well sure… friends care for one another…"
Perhaps she was right. Of course she was special, and he would care for her, such as who was with her and so on. But Natsu couldn't help but feel that somehow with her, it would both him more than anyone else. He wasn't good with words like she was, so there was no way he could decide on figuring out how to say that to her.
"If Wendy started dating someone, you'd be worried too. It's the same."
Natsu laughed slightly, blurting out the next words, "Yeah but I wouldn't be j-" He slumped back into the pillows, silencing immediately. This hangover was bugging him, it made his thoughts sloppy. He often didn't think about things that he said, but that would've been one that usually didn't pop to mind.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." He grumbled, resting his face into his scarf as he easily ignored her judging eyes; leaing her to contemplate whether or not she had really caught the first letter of that word.
"Are you blush-"
"No." He muttered, grabbing the cup back and sipping it automatically.
"You should rest." She said, swiftly changing the subject, finally sensing his discomfort. Or perhaps more so her own.
He rolled his shoulder, almost out of habit, grunting as he was shocked of the muscle pain he somehow had developed over night. Maybe it was from the alcohol, but it sure ached.
"Ah, sometimes that happens." She said, calm as she watched him move. "Do… Do you want me to massage you?"
He raised a brow, flicking his eyes to her. This day so far was definitely full of surprises.
"Really?"
She nodded, that pink colour still lingering in her cheeks. "Yeah, turn around so I can massage your back." She scooted around slightly, so that he could stay on the sofa to face his back towards her.
Finally Natsu blinked and pulled himself aside to face his back to Lucy, her hands gently finding there way onto the crook of his neck. It seemed like she had prior experience as her fingers pressed into the muscle of his neck as she clearly was working around his scarf.
Sitting in such a way meant that they were both still tense, so he could feel her shuffle forward in order to get a little more settled. "This would work better if you were lying down." She admitted.
He cracked his neck, another shooting ache webbing across his shoulders. And now that she had started, he ind of wanted her to continue.
He glanced back at her, her hair smelling of pears and coconut as she sat rather close to him; yanking back as she too realised the lack of distance.
"You could lie on the b-bed." Lucy suggested, knowing full well that the sofa wasn't going to cut it. It would be too awkward her her to massage someone in such an awkward position.
"If it's cool with you." He smiled, pulling back off the chair as he returned back to his favourite room.
"No scarf too." She added as he practically threw himself back onto the blankets.
"Fine." Pulling off his scarf carefully, he placed it under his head as he settled onto his front. "Will work if I lie like this?" He asked, all forms of dignity a beautiful attired of the pink man. He held such with no fraction of shame when it came to things like these. And even as Lucy tried to respond with a blush, she nodded.
"Yeah. P-Perfect." Once again she pressed into Natsu's neck, it suddenly feeling instantly better than it did before. Perhaps it was the softness of the mattress or the colourful blankets, either way it was definitely a whole lot more calming than when she attempted on the sofa.
"This is way better." He sighed, suddenly forgetting the pain he had in his head only moments ago.
Lucy laughed nervously, her voice informative. "It's because when you lie down, you're less tense. That's why it feels better."
"You do it a lot or something?" He asked, as she ran her hands in circles down his spine and back, pressing his muscles with more force than he'd expected.
"Oh, not really. Mirajane's good at this kind of stuff."
She let her fist run down his back, brushing out all the tension in his back like a paintbrush on tainted paper.
"A-ah."
She blushed slightly at his reaction, both humbled and embarrassed. Though it made her realise where his most tense spot was; closer to his shoulder blades. Fiddling around, she finally pushed pressure into the top of his shoulder blades, both quite hard as she heard him make a noise that she for some reason wanted to hear again.
He whimpered.
He actually whimpered.
"Sorry-" Lucy apologised quickly, "Did that hurt?"
"Yeah, but it was good."
"It… it felt good?"
"Yeah." He said, his voice muffled by the scarf he used as another layer of comfort.
So as if getting his permission, Lucy continued, pressing into his shoulder blades as he sighed with serenity; the gesture apparently calming.
"I didn't realise how rolled up my shoulders were…"
She pressed harder, that whimper escaping his lips again, though this one more from actual pain than surprise. She had to admit, that did feel the most tense out of his whole back.
"EY-" He grunted, shuffling his posture a little.
"Sorry-" Lucy grinned, her movements becoming gentle. She couldn't help but feel like he was cute like this. Maybe it sounded sadistic, she wasn't certain; but he seemed calm and relaxed. They both fell silent as she continued to be careful; though she kept her fingers around his shoulder blades.
"Natsu…" The stellar mage finally piqued up, her blonde hair falling over her face as she kept her eyes on the back of his messy, pink head.
"Aha?"
"When you were… drunk…" Ah here it was, the moment that she had been holding back. "You… you said you wanted to kiss me…"
"A-and?" Natsu asked, widening his eyes as he stared at her blank head board, the wood chipped and old.
She drew careful circles of his tense spot of his shoulders, "Is that true?"
That silence settled once more, Natsu often got quiet when feelings were involved. At least, these kinds of feelings, a Lucy couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit irritated, after all, he had obviously thought about her that way otherwise he would have never had said it. Drunk or not.
"Have you ever kissed someone before?" He finally said, his tone resembling a childlike curiosity, but she had to admit his avoiding of the question narked her somewhat.
"W-what difference would that make?!" The blonde barked, pushing down on his shoulder by accident as he yelped slightly. She relaxed again, half sitting on the mattress as her massage softened once more. "I-If we had kissed… it would be my first… Once I was close to kissing Loke, but of course that couldn't happen now."
"Oh good."
"Good?"
"Oh.. uh, I mean because you don't want your first kiss to be bad or anything." He grumbled.
"Well, you kissed Happy."
"Huh?"
"Your first kiss was with Happy so that can't count."
"That wasn't my first kiss."
She froze up a little, trying to stay careful. As much as she wanted to know about this kiss, she also wanted know know the answer to her first question. But she let him beat around the bush a little longer, it wasn't often that he told her these things. He heard stories from Cana and Mirajane about when they were younger and such, but it was very rare for Natsu to tell a story.
"Who was your first kiss?"
"I guess it didn't count much."
"Was it Lisanna?"
"I wish." He laughed, the laugh quickly turning to a heavy whimper as she accidentally stabbed her hands into his shoulder blade. "HOI?!"
"Sorry." Lucy stuttered quickly, "You want to kiss Lisanna?" Her voice softened.
"G-gh, no it just would've been better than the kiss I had at the time."
"You love Lisanna though… right?" She raised a brow, subconsciously putting pressure on his tense muscles. It wasn't really about Lisanna. She knew that, it wasn't like she was jealous or anything. She just… just wanted to know his feelings.
"Well, yeah, but it's the same way with everyone in fairy tail."
"The same for me?"
He stayed quiet, still not replying. It had never been his forte, she knew that. But honestly, there were ways he could get his feelings out other than talking, she just needed something. She wanted to know if it really bothered him.
"Why did you want to kiss me?" Lucy asked, easy and straightforward, not even a dense boy such as himself could squirm out of that one.
"Why didn't you?"
She sighed, "Natsu… I know you're dense… but you're not stupid. Even you should know that kissing isn't something that friends do… that's a different kind of love…"
Lucy watched him hesitantly, leaning back a little, her hands moving only slowly.
Finally his voice replied.
"You're my friend, Lucy. But I don't know… There's something different about you. I don't know if it's love, but I know that if you went away or got hurt… It would hurt me a lot more than anyone else."
The motion on his back stopped as it was her time to fall silent at something he said, staring at him as he tilted his head awkwardly to check she was okay.
Her cheeks were the colour of his hair, but that was the only thing she let her face have chance to do before she felt her body move forward as she pressed her lips against his own; her heart pattering in her chest at a rapid pace as she could no longer control what she had the urge to do.
Lucy knew he was surprised, she could feel it in the way he tensed up, but her nerves softened as he kissed back. It wasn't the best kiss, of course, she had never done it before, but there was something in the way that it would have been so awkward, yet it wasn't. She could feel him smile against her lips as she pulled back quickly, trying to gather her thoughts as she pressed her face into the back of his shoulder, her next words muffled.
"That's love you dummy… what you just tried to explain… it's exactly what love is…"